


Fight

by DaWritingDragon



Category: Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Badass! Veronica, F/F, Modern Era, Polyamorous Heathers (Heathers), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tags May Change, There's phones and shite but not the main focus, Time Travel, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Veronica has trauma that she supresses by being busy, Veronica thinks its time travel but its kinda not???, bloodthirsty Veronica, its bc i suck at 1980's fashion, she gonna punt anyone who tries to stop her, somewhat???, very violent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:00:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 31,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25181371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaWritingDragon/pseuds/DaWritingDragon
Summary: Veronica knew that she was a coward. Knew that everything that happened two years ago shouldn’t have gone to such a degree if she had only fought. If she had finally laid her foot down and said “No.” If she was stronger, if she had only shown just where she stood. Then maybe… maybe they wouldn’t be dead.One night, she was able to do so.OrA story where a traumatised and rather done with everything Veronica Sawyer gets sent to before everything has gone wrong but there’s a twist.She still looks the same as before; scars, growth spurt and all. As in she still look’s Nineteen despite the fact that she was supposed to be ‘Seventeen.’I wonder how Westerburg High will deal with these rather obvious changes.
Relationships: Heather Chandler/Heather Duke, Heather Chandler/Heather Duke/Heather McNamara/Veronica Sawyer, Heather Chandler/Heather McNamara, Heather Chandler/Veronica Sawyer, Heather Duke/Heather McNamara, Heather Duke/Veronica Sawyer, Heather McNamara/Veronica Sawyer, Martha Dunnstock & Veronica Sawyer
Comments: 85
Kudos: 342





	1. I can be Seventeen

_ (CHAPTER 1- Seventeen ) _

Veronica woke up, expecting the snoring of one of her nightly ventures next to her. She became confused when she didn’t hear anything of that sort, she instead was met with the ringing of her alarm clock which made her even more confused because last she knew, she never brought anyone to her place. 

  
She sat up groggily, her eyes trailing to the beeping of the digital clock on her nightstand and she clicked it closed, a bit confused on what’s happening before shrugging. Maybe she didn’t get lucky last night and instead went home instead of seducing someone like usual.

She rubbed her forehead, a puzzled look on her face. She expected her usual hangover but didn’t receive any, it was as if she woke up from a restful sleep. Unexpected but not unwelcoming, it was a nice change. 

She shuffled off her bed and frowned when she realized that she slept with the clothes from last night. She clicked her tongue, no wonder she felt so musty and crusty. How irresponsible of her, she thought as she shrugged off her dark blue button-up, the light blue shirt under it not too tight but not too loose either as she slipped it off her head. 

She reached into her drawers and brought out the undergarments that she needed for the day as she made her way to the bathroom, her light blue shirt in tow and she blinked when she noticed something missing in her room. _Did mom relocate it or something?_ She wondered as she opened the door to the bathroom.

A few more moments passed and she exited the bathroom with a towel rubbing her brown shoulder-length hair, she still had her jeans from the night before along with her shirt. It was a bit wet but that was understandable considering the fact that she wore it just after she showered. 

Veronica let out a yawn as she exited her room, her head tilting to the side a bit confused when she heard movement from the kitchen. Were mom and dad home early? That was weird, weren’t they supposed to stay until next week? They were visiting their extended family last she remembered.

She made her way down the stairs, walked into the dining room and what she saw proved that what she heard was true. Her mom was busy in the kitchen and dad was sitting at the table with a newspaper in his hand.

“Morning,” She greeted, a hand on her mouth as she yawned once again. She sat at the chair across her dad and she leaned on her palm as she turned to watch her mom in the kitchen.

“Ve- Veronica?” She heard her dad stutter, sounding as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing and she turned to him, a bit confused. His eyes were wide and his newspaper lying on the table, he looked so shocked and a part of her became worried.

“Yeah, dad? Do you need anything?” Veronica questioned, her arms now crossed on the table as she tilted her head to the side, a bit confused and concerned at the same time.

“Did you…” He fumbled with his words, hands twisting and turning around as if trying to convey words through actions was something she understood. “Did you get a growth spurt when we were away?” He asked, finally able to find his words.

Veronica’s brow rose at what her dad just said, very confused on how he had come to that decision. She looked down at herself wondering what part of her grew, did she grow a bit taller? Plausible but she wasn’t so sure, it wasn’t like she constantly checked. 

“Probably” She simply stated before she blinked. “I’m not sure, I'll check later.” She yawned before remembering that she still had to ask just when they came back. With a brow raised, she asked her question.

“When did you come back anyway?” Veronica asked.

Her dad blinked at the sudden change of topic before he answered. “Yesterday, we wanted to drop you off at school tomorrow and we couldn’t do that if we were out with family.”

Veronica just nodded and turned to the clock by the door, she blinked when she realised that it was somewhere around nine in the morning. A puzzled look grew on her face when the words her dad told her finally registered in her brain and she snapped her head back at her dad, mouth agape trying to see if what she heard was correct.

“School? What do you mean?” She asked cautiously, her brows furrowed. It was still summer… right? She had one more month before she had to go back to classes, did they send a mail changing the schedules or something? She wasn’t able to check since she just woke up.

“Your senior year!” She heard her mom speak from the kitchen and Veronico turned towards the direction, her mom peeked out from the door and gave a smile before looking very shocked when she caught sight of Veronica.

Mom seemed to go through tons of changes, from shock to concern to wary to reluctant acceptance but Veronica wasn’t paying attention to that, she instead was focusing on what her mom had just stated.

_Senior year?_

Veronica’s once calm smile turned very frigid as she turned to her dad, a brow raised as if asking if this was some kind of sick joke they made but they still looked concerned, as if not understanding what was wrong with that they had said.

_No way…_

She roughly swallowed and stood up, her fake smile still in place. Her clenched hands trembling as she remembered that blasted school year, she roughly exhaled and straightened herself.

“Senior year is tomorrow, yeah?” She asked, trying to see if what she heard was true. She ran a hand through her hair, her fingers twitching, ready to tug at her locks but she stopped herself, that was a bad habit and she was trying to not do that.

“Yes…” Dad hesitantly answered, concerned evident inside his eyes. “Your senior high is indeed tomorrow.” He gulped, eyes shifting around as if trying to see something before it settled onto hers, his fingers fiddling with the newspaper. “Are you alright Veronica? You don’t look so well, you don’t need to go to school tomorrow if you feel unwell. It’s just the first day after all”

Veronica just waved it off, her mind busy and trying desperately to rationalize just what is happening. 

“It’s fine dad, i just remembered a horror movie i watched with Martha that’s all” Veronica reassured as she began to make her way upstairs. “Speaking of Martha, I'll go visit her in a few. Is that alright? I’ll be back by dinner.”

She peeked from behind her shoulder to see her dad nodding and she let out a sigh of relief, she then sped her way to her room, grabbed her boots, placed them on and got out the house.

She stopped halfway down the street when she remembered her manners and hastily poked her head back inside her house, gave a quick “Cya ‘till dinner! Bye mom, dad. ‘Love you!” and she booked it in the other direction, not before closing the door.

She gulped as she stared at the neighbourhood she was in, her eyes shifting around trying to remember just where Westerburg High was. It has been two and a half years since she had last visited that place, she didn’t even want to see that place but if her theory was true…

She roughly swallowed her saliva as she quickly turned the corner with the help of a lamppost, however since Veronica was so busy looking around, she wasn’t able to see the person who she just collided onto and her sight was now filled with blonde and shades of yellow.

While Veronica was not able to see who she had just bumped into, she was at least able to grab their shoulder and quickly switch their places causing the blue-clad teen to slam onto the pavement with a big **_THUD!_ **

She hissed as a burst of pain bloomed from her back, she hoped that it wouldn’t bruise. It’d be annoying to sleep on her back if there was an actual bruise.

“Ow…” Veronica heard someone say on top of her and she tried to see just who she had bumped to but couldn’t due to the massive amount of thick honey-blond curls that covered her sight.

Veronica looked around, trying to see just who was the one she had bumped into but that was impossible due to the girl’s hair! So she did what every normal being would've done and pushed those curls to the side which showcased a pair of rather mesmerizing sky orbs of one...

...Heather McNamara?

She looked much younger, less tired and happier? She couldn’t explain it. So another proof that she wasn’t insane and that this is indeed happening.

“Hi?” Veronica said, an awkward smile on her face when she realized just _who_ she had bumped into and it dawned on her of the possible repercussions of doing so, especially if her theory of _when_ she had been time travelled to was true.

So in a true panic, she sputtered the first thought that came to mind in hopes of explaining what she had just done. 

"Did it hurt when you fell for me?" Veronica asked and the moment the words that she had uttered register on her brain, she panicked even more and pulled the much shorter girl up with a hand so that both of them are now upright. She sputtered, her face aflame as her mind whirled on the repercussions on what she had just done. 

"I meant 'did anything hurt when you fell _on_ me,' nothing about falling _for_ me-" the next few words that spilt out of her mouth was gibberish and she tried to explain it much more slowly in an attempt to diffuse any misunderstanding. "- as in I'm really worried, _are_ **_you_ ** _okay? You fell because i wasn’t really looking at where i was going and-"_

The giggle from the yellow Heather lessened Veronica's panic by a little, it didn't seem like the mocking kind of giggle. This one instead sounded like she was enjoying a nice joke, it was… rather nice.

"It's alright" Heather giggled, a hand pressed against her mouth as her eyes fluttered with mirth. It stopped after some time and they were both left with comfortable silence. “It was an accident after all...”

Veronica allowed herself to relax slightly, she didn’t seem to be mad which was good. However, that was not able to last when she saw Heather narrow her eyes and begin to look like she was analysing her face and Veronica had to stop herself from flinching away when the shorter girl's perfectly manicured fingers reached towards her chin to pull her down for much better access. 

Heather seemed to hum with satisfaction as she turned Veronica's head side by side, said girl was rather confused in what's happening and then became worried.

Her current self -nineteen years of age- looked rather different compared to her once seventeen-year-old self but the resemblance was there if you look close enough. She slightly sweated when she was brought even closer to the much shorter girl, their faces three inches apart, if Heather found out just who she was then her whole not even made up plan wouldn't be able to succeed.

She _needed_ to keep a low profile until she had a plan, she couldn't do that if one of the most popular girls in the school knew of her.

As if God had decided to give her a break, someone had called for Heather and Veronica hopefully turned to her saviour but that feeling wouldn't last when she was met with strawberry blonde hair and rather irritated steel grey eyes.

_Chandler…_ a part of her longingly whispered and Veronica forced herself to look away and back into the shortest Heather, trying in vain to not give a second look.

"Heather! Why aren't you at the meeting spot? Do you know how long it took to try and see just where you went?" Chandler scolded, the familiar clacking of heels against the pavement almost soothing but Veronica straightened herself and gave -what she hoped- a comforting smile to the shorter Heather as she dislodged her face from those nimble fingers of hers.

"It seems that your friend is here, I'll leave you to it McNamara" with that, Veronica booked it in a random direction. Not even bothering to look back when she heard the yellow Heather asking for her to wait.

She didn't bother to see just where she went, she just took random turns and skidded to a stop in an alleyway when she decided that this was a large enough space.

Veronica gulped in a large amount of air as she leaned against the wall, her knees threatening to buckle at what she had just seen and discovered. Her breath hitched and she forced her eyes to close, to try and regain her bearings but all she could see was _her_

Her knees finally buckled and it slammed against the ground, the next thing she knew. She was dry heaving on the ground, her eyes wide and teary however the tears wouldn't spill, she wouldn't allow it to spill.

She roughly swallowed and stumbled upright, her fists clenched as she shuffled out the alleyway, a hand running through her mess of hair.

Her eyes now dark and serious as the reality of the situation had dawned on her.

_This is real… she's alive and if she's alive…_

She rubbed her eyes with a fist, her brows furrowing as she paced around, a dazed expression on her face, a hand on her mouth as she tried to make every make sense.

_Then that meant that everything still hadn't happened. That meant that what happened two years ago hadn't happened._

A small manic grin came on her face when she realized that certain fact. 

_That meant that she could fix_ **_everything_ ** _. That she could start over. That everything would be better this second time around._

Veronica's hands turned into fists and her smile widened even more.

_Yes, this was her chance! Her chance to make everything right!_

"Yes…" she hissed, her eyes gleaming as her brain began to churn out ideas on how to do so.

_This time… this time JD wouldn't be allowed anywhere near them. She wouldn't let him._

_And if he did..._

Her smile opened for a chuckle until it turned into a full cackle, a hand was covering the side of her face as she slumped over in manic glee, her eyes gleaming in joy and thirst.

_No one is dying on her watch,_ **_no one._ **

Veronica’s laughter died down and she exited the alleyway, a rather ominous grin on her face as she walked down the sidewalk, hands in her pockets as she scanned the neighbourhood, a glint of content in her eyes.

_Other than a certain few of course… Not_ **_everyone_ ** _is under her watch after all._


	2. Bonding?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some Martha and Veronica Bonding

_(CHAPTER 2- Step into Westerburg)_

Veronica fiddled with her recently bought a dark blue bomber jacket and she wondered if it was a good idea to wear it on the first day. Last she remembered during her years in Westerburg, she wasn’t exactly the most noticeable unless she’s with Martha so having a wardrobe change wouldn’t be that obvious right?

She had to buy a whole new wardrobe after bumping into Heather because seventeen-year-old Veronica was full of skirts and she ain’t about that life. There was also the fact that the clothes wouldn’t fit her, it could… but it was straining against her body.

It puzzled her at first because she didn’t think that she’d be that different, that is until she saw a picture of her seventeen self and realized she _may_ have gotten another growth spurt when she was eighteen.

Seventeen-year-old Veronica, while tall still had some average pudge. She wasn’t exactly bad looking but she didn’t exactly bother to try and impress anyone so she looked average.

From what she remembered, Heather Veronica was much slimmer because believe it or not, the heathers had a body code and they needed to at least look slim or athletic. 

Nineteen Veronica (AKA: How she looked right now) was much more taller and muscular than her past selves, with broader shoulders, calluses and _scars_ because eighteen-year-old Veronica was very self-destructive and had decided that fighting shady people in alleyways during the nights she couldn’t sleep was a proper stress relief.

She sighed, no wonder mom and dad looked so worried. She stared at the mirror, her eyes trailing the several fading scars lining her arms to the somewhat resting bitch face expression she always had.

She brought a hand to her left brow, where a cut that ran diagonally was clearly seen. She had gotten this when she had her first fight, a druggie had thought that she was a cop and ran at her with a knife nearly slashing her eye open if it weren’t for the fact that she had barely dodged. 

She didn’t remember much that night, it was all a blur of colours and next thing she knew. She was being choked and the ringing in her ears, after that the guy was on the ground with a bloody nose and a rapidly bruising black eye with her being dragged away to an ambulance.

_All she could think from then was the flicker of satisfaction and glee. That flicker turned into a small fire when she saw that he couldn’t use most of his face because of how hard she punched._

She snorted and moved away from the mirror, she was sure that that one fight led to her being an adrenaline junkie. That rush of fight or flight always made her feel so much alive, especially whenever she chose fight and _won._

Her fingers twitched and Veronica stared at her knuckles, if she had looked hard enough, she could've seen the blood that stained them due to her numerous fights.

She didn’t know what she loved the most about fighting, was it the feeling of her fist slamming against someone else’s skin? Was it the splattering of liquid against the floor as their head smacked against the pavement? Or was it the satisfaction of finally being the one on top for once? _The one to finally be in control after so long in being dragged around by life?_

Veronica’s hands dropped when her alarm that signified that she had one more hour before she had to go to school rang. She yawned and just grabbed her denim jacket, while baggy to her seventeen-year-old self, was rather form-fitting to her body as of this moment.

She couldn’t help the quirk of her lips when she saw a familiar scarf hanging in the closet, she reached towards it and thumbed the soft fabric wondering if she should wear it like before.

“Pfft-” Veronica snickered before deciding that she should just go and do it cause why not? And so she lazily wrapped it around her neck, the slightly frizzy material tickling her skin and she smiled. 

_Ring~_

_Ring~_

_Ring~_

Veronica blinked, her head tilting to the side a bit confused when she heard a phone ring. She looked around and reached for it, her face lighting up when she realized that it was her old flip phone. She broke it during a fight and so she had to replace it with a much better one a year from now, it was a bit nice to see her old phone. 

She flicked it open and as met with… Martha? 

As if she was a light, her face immediately lit up and she quickly answered it and brought it to her ear, an excited smile on her face as she bounced on the balls of her feet. She hadn’t been able to talk to Martha in a while since she was so busy with school and while they text, they hadn’t really been able to hear each other's voices.

“Good morning Martha! Didya need anything?” She asked voice barely calm and filled with an underline of excitement.

_“Morning… Erm, Veronica did something happen to your voice?”_

Veronica rose a brow at that, a bit confused. “I... don’t think so?”

_“Are you sure?”_

Veronica hummed her answer. “Yep, I still sound the same. Anyway, we’ll…” She tilted her head to the side trying to remember what happened on the first day, “Meet up at your locker like normal, right?”

_“Absolutely! See you at school Veronica!”_

“Alright, see ya ‘till then Martha. Stay safe.” with that, the call had come to close.

Veronica quickly scribbled down a note for her parents about where she went, it was a bit too early and she knew that they wanted to drop her off but a walk to school would help clear her head.

As she placed on her boots, grabbed her bag, necessities and everything she needed. She realized midway out the door that she hadn’t asked what Martha needed.

_Eh, I'll just ask her at school._

**__==O==__**

Veronica didn’t expect a lot from the first day of school, she didn’t really _want_ to expect actually.

High School was as overrated as usual but she’ll shoulder on, it was just a year and if everything goes as planned, will pass like a blink of her eye.

Honestly, this whole thing wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t saved the Heathers from detention with her forgery powers and left them with Ms. Flemming.

If she had done so, then she wouldn’t have needed to be indoctrinated to the Heathers and in turn wouldn’t be invited to Ram’s Homecoming party which meant that she didn’t have to embarrass Martha by giving her a forged invite. This also meant that she wouldn’t get so drunk that she’d puke on Chandler’s shoes because the crazy woman decided to swing her head around like a bat. Not that she’d ever been that drunk anymore, she’s had a much better tolerance nowadays.

So if she and Chandler weren't connected, that meant that JD and she wouldn’t have a reason to come over in the first place to give the cure/switched poison.

She fiddled with the strap of her bag, a contemplative look on her face.

Wait… if Chandler didn’t die then what about the time where Duke and McNamara called for her to deal with a drunk Kurt and Ram. Would Chandler also be there?

She furrowed her brow as a burst of _something_ grew in her, she didn’t remember the exact date that it happened so she’ll have to stalk them for a while. It was after the party, last she remembered.

Alright, she had a solid plan for the not dying of Chandler so how about everyone else?

She’d have to help McNamara when it came to her grades, she won’t be able to continue her schooling due to how much she kept on cheating instead of studying. A tutor then? Veronica hummed as she turned the corner, possible but then she’d have to explain why she was even doing so.

Then there’s her depression...

Let's not even mention Duke’s situation, she’ll have to find a way to help her without accidentally outing herself from solitude and into their spotlight. Perhaps a silent friend for both of them? 

She clicked her tongue, she’d probably look stalker-y and in turn, make them try to search for this ‘secret friend.’ She ran a hand through her hair, a frown on her face as she walked into Westerburg grounds, busy in thought and because of this, she accidentally bumped into someone.

She snapped out of her thoughts and turned to who she bumped, who was crouching and reaching for her strewn papers that laid on the floor and Veronica instantly felt bad. With the way she was hastily trying to get everything and how much she kept on looking around, she was probably a freshman or someone low in the popularity poll.

Veronica crouched down and grabbed the rest of the papers before reaching for the girl’s hand and pulling both of them up. She grabbed the papers, quickly fixed them and gave it back.

“Here, sorry for bumping into you. I wasn’t seeing where I’m looking” Veronica apologized, her lips tugging upward apologetically but it faltered at the rather red face the much shorter girl had. _Shoot… she was probably mad or embarrassed._

Veronica rubbed her neck and gave a quick apology before walking away with a quick wave. A frown on her face when she noticed that she may have inadvertently embarrassed the poor girl, she’ll have to say sorry the next time they meet.

When she pushed open the door of Westerburg High, she realized that she may have arrived a bit too early. She winced and looked around, there were some early students but no one she actually knew.

She scratched her cheek with a hand as a contemplative frown grew on her face, she turned to her watch and if what she remembered was correct, Martha wouldn’t be in school until the next thirty minutes.

This… was a miscalculation.

She must’ve been really excited for school if she arrived this early, Veronica rubbed her chin as she looked around. Which was fine, she still needed to look for her locker anyway, it’ll be a bit suspicious if she didn’t know where to place her things.

With that, Veronica spent half an hour trying in vain to search for her locker. She gave up when she noticed that her remaining thirty minutes had nearly passed when a large swarm of students had started to enter the school.

Welp, there’s that thirty minutes she’ll never take back but she at least knows where she should go for her subjects, it's what happens when you walk around and forget just where your locker is.

Veronica let out a sheepish chuckle as she walked back to Martha’s locker, she felt bad for the dozens of lockers she just essentially broke into thinking it was hers.

Hey! It’s not her fault that she didn’t remember her locker combination from two years ago, you think she’ll remember something that unimportant? She had better things to do, like go and fight in shady alleyways like an addict.

She snickered, if her eighteen-year-old self had heard her thoughts right now, she’d be so pissed and fight **_her_ ** instead. She tilted her head as a thought entered her mind, was this self-deprecating humour? It was rather hilarious, why hadn’t she done it sooner.

She stopped when another thought popped into her head since she was technically fighting herself does that mean she does self-harm? Beating people also brings her glee, so did that also make her a sadist?

Veronica rubbed her chin in contemplation before shrugging, she’ll think about it next time. Right now, she needed to go and meet up with Martha, then give her adorable friend a big bear hug that’ll lift the much shorter girl in the air.

She always wanted to do that but considering that seventeen-year-old Veronica was a twink with an equally twinky body that couldn’t carry _anything_ but her emotional baggage, it was something she was not able to achieve and when she was able to do so, Martha had a fear of heights that she’d rather not accidentally trigger because of a certain… incident.

So with a giddy grin, Veronica sped up, swiftly slinking by the students as her eyes searched for Martha’s signature pink unicorn sweater. Her body -hopefully- disguised by the pack of chatting students who were equally excited for something.

The grin grew even wider when she finally found her target and as if a switch had been flicked, Veronica’s happy demeanour turned cold as she slowly slunk behind the pudgy girl, her hands raised and ready to slam down but she stopped midway when she realized that she could do something that didn’t seem like she was bullying her dear friend who was just calmly checking her locker like a normal person. Martha was humming a song, it was rather nice and Veronica felt a bit bad for cutting such a nice tune but she couldn’t help it!

So with the confidence of a cat that had just caught the canary, Veronica bent down to reach behind Martha’s ear, her breath quiet and whispered. One. Single. Word.

_“Boo”_

The reaction Martha gave Veronica was rather surprising because she never expected her friend to elbow her and because the taller girl didn’t really expect her sweet best friend to react like that and so, her body reacted accordingly.

“GAh- Why do you do this to me...” Veronica gagged, her body bent over as she rubbed her poor stomach. Her eyes closed as her mind tried to process just what recently happened, her teeth gritted as she tried to control her breathing.

“Ve- Veronica!?” She heard Martha sputter from above her and Veronica waved a hand to show that she was somewhat alright.

“I-” Veronica quickly breathed in before straightening herself, her face blank as she towered over the much shorter girl. Her eyes narrowing onto Martha and a tense atmosphere grew in between them, it even grew heavier when Veronica placed a hand on Martha’s shoulder, her hand heavy.

The heavy atmosphere was immediately ruined when Veronica slung her arms around Martha’s shoulders and gave a merry laugh as she hugged the poor girl against her. 

“Holy- Holy fudge!” Veronica grinned as she pushed Martha to an arm’s length away, her eyes scanning the very confused girl infront of her. “I’m so proud of you Martha! When did you start fighting?” Veronica’s arms then wrapped around the shorter girl and brought her closer, a happy and rather proud grin on her face. “Ooh! I am so happy! If you had told me that you could fight then i would have invited you to train with me!”

She had to pull away when she felt Martha tap a finger against her bicep and she blinked, rather confused. The girl looked confused, oh so confused, as if she was seeing something she had once seen and was now seeing it in front of her years later.

“Veronica? What happened.. to you?” Martha questioned, a finger waving at all of Veronica causing said girl to move back and look at herself a bit confused on what her friend had meant.

“What do you mean?” Veronica asked, her arms raised as she looked at her clothes. She was wearing the same denim jacket and scarf her seventeen-year-old self always wore, she didn’t look that different right? She may have grown a bit taller and gotten some muscle but she was sure that she looked the same.

Martha seemed to hesitate on what to say, her eyes on Veronica’s face causing the blue-clad girl to look very concerned on how she reacted.

“Hey… Martha everything alright?” Veronica questioned, her glee now gone as she tried to see what was wrong with her dear friend. A hand squeezing Martha’s shoulder in an attempt to show her concern, as she tried to see what was wrong.

Before the shorter girl should answer, the school bell rang and they both turned to the bell before looking at each other.

“We got the same homeroom right?” Veronica asked, a very concerned and hopeful smile on her face when she realized that she hadn’t been able to see which homeroom she was in. All she remembered was that she and Martha were in the same advisory.

With Martha’s nod, Veronica let out a sigh of relief before grabbing her hand and dragging her to a random direction.

“Welp lets go, Martha!” She exclaimed, a grin now on her face as she ran down the halls with her poor friend in tow.

“Wait! Veronica, we're going the wrong way!”

Veronica stopped before turning to her friend, a sheepish smile on her face. With an exaggerated bow and an equally sheepish laugh, she saluted with a hand, her body and form straight as a soldier.

“Well, lead the way cap’n!” with that order, Martha actually began to actually lead, their pace normal and slow before the warning bell rang and they ran, their laughter ringing through the halls.

_I missed this,_ Veronica thought as she glanced at the flushed girl beside her. A grin grew on her face along with a spark of playfulness.

“Race ya!” Veronica shouted behind her shoulder, her eyes glowing in happiness.

“Veronica! That’s still the wrong way!”

After a few more close calls -because Veronica kept on going to the wrong room- they finally reached the classroom and hastily sat down when they didn’t see their advisor anywhere, Veronica came to a realization.

_She_ **_still_ ** _hadn’t asked why Martha called._

“Fuck!”

“Veronica language!”

“Sorry Martha”


	3. Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Swearing?? Do i even need to put a warning for some swearing? I'm not sure.
> 
> Also uh- oh seems like Martha is getting supiciousss

_(CHAPTER 3- A Friend)_

Veronica pursed her lips, a bit lost. Her eyes searching the cafeteria, trying to see just where her friend sat. After some time of failing to see anything in one area, she decided that walking around would help in her search for her friend.

She frowned and scratched her head in confusion, was she not in the cafeteria? She didn't exactly remember a lot of Martha's schedule so she couldn't meet up after classes but they were going to meet at the cafeteria like usual so maybe she was caught up?

Her eyes trained to the cafeteria line and she decided that maybe getting Martha her food would pass the time. A part of her began saying that she could just start a fight to pass the time, just a little nudge towards the wrong person and you can start a whole food fight and get away with it but a much more rational part of her said that it was stupid and she agreed wholeheartedly.

It’s the first day after all, and she _was_ supposed to keep a low profile, you can’t exactly be low profile when you start a whole fight on the first day. Maybe after the first month, her changes were already obvious to her parents' eyes -maybe Martha- and fighting would cause them to be _very_ **_suspicious._ **

Veronica then grabbed an empty tray and waited in line like a good friend, just shuffling along with the crowd as she went to grab Martha’s food but before she could do so, someone had decided that slamming a hand onto her tray was a good thing.

So here she is, just staring at her poor tray that was in the process of getting her food that is now lying on the equally poor floor and she wondered what it had done to get such unfair treatment.

Veronica’s brow raised as she turned to the guy who had done this to her poor tray and she cocked her head to the side as she watched a familiar guy with a letterman jacket walk away with such a smug satisfied look on his face.

_“Oops”_ she heard Ram say as he shuffled away.

Normally, she would’ve punched anyone who had done that to her but the pure audacity and surprise of seeing him alive overshadowed her irritation and so she watched him walk away with brows raised and a contemplative frown in her face. 

Veronica shrugged and turned to pick up her tray but she instead came face to face with Martha, who looked like she was ready to tap her in the shoulder, in Martha’s hand was Veronica's poor tray.

“Hey Martha” Veronica chirped, her frown replaced with a happy smile as she placed her hands in her pockets as both of them walked back to the cafeteria line. Her previous incident with Ram already shoved to the back of her mind as she focused on her dear friend.

“Hey” Martha simply replied, a contrast to Veronica’s chirpy and rather excitable voice but equally happy to see her friend. Martha blinked, “We still on for movie night?” She asked as her hands fiddled with the tray.

As if on cue, the familiar words spilt out of Veronica’s mouth. “Yep, you’re in jiffy pop detail” She elbowed the shorter girl with a grin, a free hand reaching to her scarf as she tugged at the fuzzy strands as they both stood in line. 

“I rented the Princess Bride!” Martha exclaimed, her eyes sparkling as she pushed up her glasses.

Veronica snorted, her mind replaying a memory of Martha saying the same thing before. “Again?” She teased. “Don’t you have it memorized by now?” Veronica’s smile faltered slightly as she glanced at the beside her.

Martha giggled, her shoulders shaking as she stared up at the taller girl. “What can i say,” she shrugged, a twinkle in her eyes “I’m a sucker for a happy ending.”

Veronica’s smile turned a bit rueful, “Well, I’ll make sure that you’ll get your happy-” 

“MARTHA DUMPTRUCK!” She heard someone shout from behind her and she turned, eyes wide when she remembered a certain scene. “WIDE LOAD!” A certain Kurt Kelly screamed as he slammed his hands onto the empty tray before walking away with a bark of laughter when he heard the tray smack onto the floor.

As this happened, Veronica watched with a glare, hands clenched which Martha seemed to notice with how she placed her smaller hands onto calloused ones, a worried look behind those glasses of her as she shook her head, trying to convey that it was alright.

Veronica knew that she should’ve let it go, knew that what she was going to do would bring the spotlight on her, that she should’ve went and continued reassuring Martha but her irritation from before and the fact that she was cut-off mixed and soon boiled over, especially when she heard the two’s obnoxious laugh over what they had done.

_No one gets to mess with her friend,_ **_no one. Especially the two fuckers who call themselves Ram and Kurt._**

“Oi fuckhead!” She shouted over the crowd, the two seemed to notice and the one she was calling turned to her with a raised brow, his arm still slung over Ram. “Yeah, you! The guy with the shitty hair!” She pointed at Kurt and in an instant, the crowd moved away and circled them, as if noticing that there could be a fight.

Kurt seemed confused before glancing at his friend before looking at her, he seemed to have noticed the crowd and with that began to strut his ass towards her. 

Veronica just clicked her tongue before waving her hand towards the dropped tray. “You better pick this up, you smacked it, you better take it”

“I’m sorry~” He closed the distance between them and attempted to stare down at her, which isn’t exactly much since they were somewhat eye to eye. “Are you actually talking to me?”

Veronica shoved him away with an arm, noticing that he was a bit too close for comfort- her nose scrunching instinctively when a flash of alcohol struck her nose before it suddenly disappeared- and if he came any closer then she would’ve punched the guy for invading personal space. Kurt tumbled backwards, shock in his features before it turned into irritation when he heard the small giggles that came from around them.

“Yeah I’m talking to you, who do you think you are? Smacking my friend’s stuff around like a shit tard looking for attention.” Veronica growled, ready to go and come closer to him but stopped when Martha grabbed her by the sleeve and as if a switch had been flipped, Veronica’s irritation was replaced with concern as she turned to her friend but before she could ask what was wrong, a tray had smacked against her back.

A spark grew inside of her and Veronica grinned as she turned to the asshat who decided to fight her. Next thing she knew, she had a tray thrown at her and she let it slam onto her chest, an amused glint on her eyes as she watched the smugness literally radiating off the jock.

_“Oops,_ I dropped this,” Kurt simply said, an ‘innocent’ smile on his face. He stood a few feet away from her, his hands raised in faux surrender as if showcasing that he hadn’t thrown anything at her.

Veronica chuckled before she bent down to grab the tray, in the back of her mind she noticed that the cafeteria was strangely silent but she ignored it in favour of straightening herself and staring at the arrogant asshat with a smile on her face.  
  


She began to casually fold up her sleeves until it reached her elbows and walked towards him, pace slow and with a flick of her hand, threw the tray towards Ram who stood next to his buddy as back up.

The surprise on their face made Veronica’s small smile turn into a wide grin, it grew even wider when she saw Kurt turn so he could focus on Ram instead of _her._

_Rule number one, never lose sight of your enemy._

So with a happy grin, she swung her fist towards his jaw, effectively giving him a right hook which caused the poor dude to hit the floor with a groan. The spark grew when she had to dodge Ram’s sloppy straight punch, she didn’t even need to do much other than quickly sticking her leg out, allowing her to properly trip him with his own momentum.

Ram slammed onto the floor, his eyes wide when he realized that he missed and hastily got on his feet but because he was so busy trying to stand up, he never noticed the hands that suddenly gripped his hair but he did notice the sudden burst of pain that came when one's chin slammed onto a knee.

He sputtered and the grip on his head loosened, allowing him to fall back to the floor, his head and hair in disarray.

Veronica glanced behind her shoulder and with a twist of her feet, slammed her elbow into Kurt's side and just like that he dropped into the floor with his friend, both groaning in pain. A surge of glee grew inside of her and she shivered as she stared down at the pained duo, a blank look on her face. She should be happy, she _finally_ \- after all these years, finally struck them down with her own hands.

But a small part of Veronica felt a bit… _dissatisfied,_ with how the fight had ended. She didn't like beating up people who wouldn't fight back, it didn't feel as well deserved if they were so tired that they couldn't feel the pain. The greatest feeling was seeing the hope fade from their eyes whenever they tried to escape, it would grow because they thought that they finally bested her, then the next it was gone.

_How disappointing, there wasn't even any blood._

**_They should be bleeding for what they did..._ **

"Ve- Veronica! We need to go! A teacher might be coming!" Veronica blinked and turned to Martha, her head tilting to the side confused and she soon came out of her haze when her mind finally registered the fact that yes, she was still in the cafeteria and that she was still indeed in school.

Her eyes widened, quickly grabbed Martha's hands and booked it out of the cafeteria.

_So much for keeping a low profile,_ she grumbled to herself but she was petty and if her cover was blown, why not blow it some more?

"See ya till next time you pansies!" Hollered Veronica as she finally pushed open the Cafeteria doors and slipped past some student with a very panicked Martha in tow. 

She let out a bark of laughter when they successfully escaped, a grin on her face as they ran down the corridors of Westerburg High. A few more moments passed and the two girls stepped into the bathroom with Veronica leading and Martha in tow.

.

"Veronica- why'd you have to go and fight them? They're going to target you now! Besides, they're just joking around. Let's not even mention the possible suspension for starting a fight" Sputtered Martha as she shut the door behind her, her face filled with concern as she watched her friend splash her face with water. "I thought you wanted an unproblematic senior year?"

Veronica simply laughed as she used her scarf to wipe her face and fully turned to her friend.

Martha couldn't help but step back when she caught sight of _something_ in Veronica's eyes but after she blinked, it was gone.

_Was she seeing things?_

"Pfft-" Veronica snorted "you think those two are going to spill the beans?" She leaned on the sink with her arms as she glanced at Martha. "They got an ego Martha, they won't go to the teachers because they're too prideful to do so." A self-assured smirk on her face, it looked... _wrong. So very wrong._

"How do you know?" Martha asked, her fingers fiddling against each other, worry evident in her face as she stared down at her hands.

Martha blinked when she felt a calloused hand on her hair, her face flushed when it ruffled against her locks, she flushed even more when she heard Veronica laugh and while it was huskier and deeper than before, it still held true that it was still _Veronica_ in the end. That realization served to calm her down and lessen some of her worries, maybe she was just having a bad day?

"Relax, I got everything covered." With that, Veronica pulled her hand away and pushed Martha towards the door, her eyes on her watch. "You should get to class, you got fifteen to ten more minutes before the bell rings" 

Martha glanced behind her shoulder as she allowed herself to be manhandled, "Veronica you do know that _you_ also have classes in those same fifteen minutes" She teased, a smile on her face as she raised a brow.

Veronica simply chuckled, before finally pushing Martha out the bathroom door. She leant on the frame and stared down at the shorter girl. "I could just skip, it's still the first day and I do need to go to the nurse to check out my back." Veronica winked, "I'd rather not accidentally end up in a wheelchair because I got a bone fracture and didn’t know until the very end."

Martha just giggled and nodded. "See you at lunch?" 

Veronica grinned, "See ya 'till then" She bent down slightly to poke Martha' nose, causing the girl to giggle as she turned and began to shuffle her way to her next class.

The much taller girl watched as this happened and when Martha turned the corner, Veronica's smile fell and she entered the bathroom once more. The door shutting behind her with a _click_ and Veronica cracked her knuckles, the familiar popping relieving a bit of her stress as she opened the first stall by the door and got in. 

She reached into her pockets, brought out a notepad and pen and started the waiting game. Her pen scratched against the paper as she calmly doodled to pass the time, mind half focused on her drawing as she waited for Duke to rush into the bathroom so she could purge.

She patted the pockets of her jacket, where a pack of gum and a small water bottle laid. She knew how crappy one’s breath would be after puking and she could relate… somewhat. She didn’t exactly have bulimia but the amount of times she kept on puking as a cheap attempt to sober up was too much to count and one needs to hydrate after puking up liquids.

So here she spent, at least five minutes waiting for a person that may or may not even come to her bathroom. 

A blank look crossed her face and she facepalmed when she realized that there was more than one bathroom in this school.

_How could she have forgotten something so small and yet so_ **_important?_ **

Her thought wasn’t able to continue when she heard the door to the bathroom click open and she immediately straightened herself and quickly shuffled her way onto the toilet so her shoes won’t be seen.

She stilled when the door to her right was slammed open and dry heaving happened before it turned into full on hurling, a quick peek over the stall allowed her to see that it was indeed Duke who had entered who looked rather busy puking her guts out.

Veronica frowned and quickly checked her watch, eight more minutes before class and the hurling hadn't stopped at all. In her mind, a battle between two factions began to rage; Should she stay until Duke’s done to give the water and gum? Or should she just pass it and leave so she wouldn’t be seen?

She already blew her cover to the school but not to the Heathers, she hadn’t even seen the Heathers in the cafeteria so it wasn’t like they would know of her, she could still be the _‘hidden friend.’_

So with her mind made up, she nodded and flipped into a random paper to write a quick note. Her eyes turned back to her watch and she realized that she only had six more minutes before class and so she slipped the note, gum and bottle to the door next door.

Veronica knocked at Duke’s side of the stall and unlocked her door. In an instant, Duke’s hurling hitched and the crinkling of paper was heard, that was all Veronica needed for her to leave the bathroom, due to the fact that she was in such a hurry she nearly bumped into two girls as she hastily escaped.

She gave a short apology and booked it in the vague direction of her next class before quickly running back when she realized that she hadn’t gotten her books from her locket yet.

Due to her haste, she was unable to notice the two girls in red and yellow watching her with suspicious eyes before slipping into the girl’s bathroom, the door clicking closed behind them.

A few moments after the bell rang, Ms Flemming entered as well.


	4. Meeting once more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica remembers alot of things

_ (CHAPTER 4- Meetings)  _

A month of school had finally passed and Veronica liked to think that she had an actual routine that she regularly follows, she also finally found her locker.

A relief really, she was beginning to get lazy explaining to Martha on why she kept on dragging her books with her wherever they went so after three days of continuous breaking and searching, she finally managed to break into her locker.

Anyway, back to the routine. She would wake up at least two hours before school, go on a run, come back home, take a shower and dress in the first hour then she’d go to school so she could drop off her bag then go out and explore in her remaining one hour.

Twenty minutes before school would start, she would go back to Westerburg and meet up with Martha then go do regular school things. Meet up with Martha after classes so they can walk to the cafeteria together then ten minutes before recess ends, she’ll go to the bathroom and wait for Duke, give a gum, a personal note and a bottle of water and leave for her classes.

Same thing for lunch, meet up with Martha to walk to the Cafeteria then ten minutes before it ends, she would go to the bathroom so she could give Duke her stuff -maybe a granola bar - and leave. After lunch was her English with McNamara, on where she’d just discreetly slip a note paraphrasing the earlier lesson under her desk and continue on with her day.

School ends, she’ll go to the library to quickly finish her assignments for the day and leave.

Rinse, repeat.

It got rather boring since it was so…  _ normal _ but she ignores that part of her whenever she notices McNamara getting so much better scores in her tests than before and it fills her with a certain type of pride that grows exceptionally larger whenever the girl skips out the classroom with a smile on her face after a particularly hard test.

It was a nice feeling, not as nice as punching people but still nice.

Then there was Duke’s thing, she liked to think that she was chipping away at that hardened exterior with how the green Heather stopped her purging midway to just catch a glimpse of her.

Their relationship was definitely odd to say the least. Sometimes Duke would come to the bathroom, not to purge but to talk! Veronica could feel a stupid grin growing in her face, a sense of accomplishment growing in her.

They even have a certain code to know if each other was there in the restroom, it was absolutely awesome! They even gave each other phone numbers, although Veronica had to buy a burner phone -with the money she stole/found in the ground- for it.

You never know if they could be tracking it or something. 

Then there was this thing about Duke going to her -of all people!- to talk about anything, from odd topics to relationship stuff -a bad topic really, considering the fact that her first relationship completely blew up in her face. Then there was the fact that she never went into any committed relationship after that- that she couldn't talk about with her  _ 'girlfriends.' _

Veronica was sure that the  _ girlfriends _ were the rest of the Heather's with how close the trio are, constantly hugging or leaning against each other. 

It was nice that they were much friendlier with each other than  _ her _ Heather's. They seem much more stable and a whole lot healthier relationship-wise.

A small wistful smile grew on her face and she wondered, why couldn't that happen to  _ her _ Heather's too?

Veronica’s brow furrowed, as her trail of thought began darkened and spiral downward.

_ Why did she have to get the dysfunctional Heather's. Why couldn't she have this much happier one?  _

Veronica frowned and her fists clenched as she shoved the doors to Westerburg High open, she knew that she was envious.

Because as much of an asshole, her trio of Heather's are, they were  _ hers  _ and she knew that her Heather's disbanded because of  _ her _ .

The grip on her bag tightened and she began to make her way to her locker. She killed Chandler and in turn kicked off the chain of events that lead to Duke growing into a mega-bitch and McNamara nearly committing suicide.

A spark of annoyance grew inside of her when she accidentally inputted the wrong combination and she quickly restarted once more, her hands fiddling with the lock roughly.

It was her fault.

_ It was her fault. _

_ It. Was. Her. Fault _

_ Her.  _ **_Fault._ **

_ "Keep it together Veronica," she heard  _ **_her_ ** _ whisper behind her ear, "you don't look so well…" an airy breath struck Veronica’s side. “Do you think a drink will help you?” _

_ Veronica shivered when she felt those ghostly fingers caress her jaw and she squeezed her eyes shut, not letting herself to give in to the ghost's whims like before because she knew that she'd regret it like all the other times. _

She shook her head, growled and gave up after the fifth try of inputting the wrong code, a hand slamming against her locker in irritation, her fist caving in the cheap metal. The large  **_SLAM!_ ** Startling the nearby students and when a few of them decided to circle her, a quick glare caused them to scurry off like rats.

She roughly exhaled and forced her hands to her sides, the muscles twitching and clenching every second, ready to punch anything and anyone in her way.

She clicked her tongue and tried to focus elsewhere, like the oncoming tests or the small things, like she still needed to write McNamara’s notes for the day but no matter how many times she tried to change the subject,  _ she _ was always there.

A seductive smile, gleaming eyes that had a glint of…  _ something _ in them and Veronica wondered if she hadn't been so busy with JD maybe… maybe she could've gotten somewhere.

She let out a breath as she managed to input the correct combination after the seventh time, the snapping of the lock allowing her to relax before she suddenly tensed.

_ "Chin up Veronica~"  _ **_She_ ** _ cooed as her nimble fingers ghosted against Veronica's chin and jugular, the cold feeling both soothed and irritated the blue-clad girl. _

She glared at her locker as she swung it open, a spark  _ of something _ growing inside her as she roughly handled her things. 

If she started to see  _ her _ once again, then that meant that she would see the  _ others  _ too.

Where was an asshole when you needed them? It would’ve been so much easier to ignore everything when one is in a fight.

Veronica's grip on a book tightened and she allowed herself to slouch into her locker, effectively hiding her expression from the rest of the student body, a hand pushing her bangs back as she roughly swallowed her saliva, eyes trained to the back of the locker.

_ VRRRRrrrrr _

_ VVvvvrrrrrrrrr _

Veronica’s eyes flicked to the pocket of her jeans where she felt her phone vibrate and she swiftly pulled her phone out, with a twist of her finger, she was met with the sight of a text from Martha.

She furrowed a brow and read the text, her eyes ghosting over the words, barely even registering the message in her mind but a certain word caught her attention and Veronica snapped back to reality with a blink. She quickly reread the text trying to see if her mind wasn't deceiving her and what she saw was indeed true.

**_Martha:_ **

_ [Veronicaaaaa, i can’t go to school for the following week because i got the flu (╥︣﹏᷅╥)] _

_ [Say hi to Ram for me  _ _ (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤ _ _ ] _

Veronica’s grip on her phone tightened at that text, her eyes narrowing as a burst of disgust grew inside her. She could still feel their hands gripping her hair that one night and she had to stop herself from throwing the phone away in pure revulsion.

What did Martha see in him?

Because all she saw was him…  **dead.**

Martha… Veronica grimaced, a frown on her face as she ran a hand through her hair. Martha may be her friend but she was still a teen who likes  _ him, _ a teen who is stuck in her own fantasies because she can’t just grow up and see-

Veronica growled when she tugged at her hair a bit harder than normal and she blinked and stared at the strands of brown locks in her hand. A feeling of nothing welled inside her as she made her fingers curl around them before she abruptly shoved them into the pockets of her blue bomber jacket, she needed a haircut anyway. How she wished that she had her regular scarf and denim jacket, at least she can tug the fabric and hide so many things in them but they were sadly in the dryer so she was stuck wearing the blue bomber jacket.

She blankly stared at her locker, Martha wouldn’t be going to school for the whole week and it was Monday, so that meant that the remaining minutes that were once filled with her and Martha hanging out would be empty until Friday.

So what will she do now?

Veronica sighed, placed the necessary books inside her bag and tossed it back to the locker before locking it and walking away, hands in her pockets and no idea on what to do with so much free time. In the corner of her eye, she could just see a flash of strawberry blonde and bleeding blue lips just trailing behind her.

A rumble from her stomach caught her attention and she was struck with an idea, so she jogged out the doors of Westerburg High and into the streets of Sherwood into the vague direction of a shop.

Her feet carried her to her destination, through the streets, past her house and into a familiar gas station. The gas station’s  **7/11** obvious and Veronica roughly inhaled as she came closer, she pushed up the sleeves of her jacket and looked through the glass, trying to see if there were any sightings of an emo with a trench coat.

She let out a sigh of relief when there was none and was just about to enter if it weren’t for the loud honking of a car behind her, causing poor Veronica to jump and turn to who had decided to be so loud, arms in a weird kung fu position.

**BEEEEEEEEP!!!!**

Veronica’s eyes widened when she caught sight of a familiar jeep,  _ Duke’s _ … Jeep. She gulped and turned back around, pushing up her sleeves once more in an attempt to show that they definitely didn’t catch her attention as she entered the doors but before she could fully step inside-

_ “OI! BLUEEEE!!!!”  _

Veronica tensed and glanced behind her shoulder, her eyes widening when she saw Duke whispering something to  _ her _ ear inside the car. Once she saw that they were busy, she attempted to once more enter the establishment but failed when she heard  _ another _ shout.

_ "Don’t even try to act like you didn’t hear me!!"  _

Veronica felt a bolt of panic grow inside her at that shout and hastily turned towards them once more. Next thing she knew, her body was on autopilot and after a blink, she stood by the door.

Her eye twitched at what she had done, she couldn’t believe that her habit had to be kickstarted  _ now  _ of all times.

She coughed onto her hand when she realized that she was staring and tilted her head to the side, an awkward smile on her face as she tried not to stare at the clearly alive face of one Heather Chandler through the glass. She had to stare up slightly due to how high the jeep is but it wasn’t that much of a trouble, she just had to crane her neck.

“You called?” After she said her piece, the door clicked open and Veronica stepped back, hands raised in faux surrender wondering if they were going to jump her or something.

As the door fully opened, Veronica’s eyes widened at the sight of Chandler fully turned towards her. The ‘leader’ of the Heather’s had her legs crossed above each other, a palm on her chin as she ‘essentially’ stared down at Veronica. A contemplative look in those steel-blue eyes of her as she flipped her strawberry locks behind her shoulder.

Then there was Duke -just watching from behind Chandler- in her seat with an amused look on her face as she flipped to the next page of her book. Veronica blinked and tilted her head, where did the book come from?

A snapping of fingers caught Veronica’s attention and she focused back to an obviously annoyed Chandler, the contemplative look now having an edge of annoyance in them.

“Listen Blue, i know that  _ my  _ **_girlfriend_ ** is captivating but that doesn’t give you the excuse to ignore me” Chandler scoffed and crossed her arms as her side leaned onto her seat.

Veronica just chuckled and tugged at her sleeves until it covered both of her arms fully, “Right… anyway, what do you need?” 

“Go inside and buy me some corn nuts” Was all Chandler said as she waved her away with a hand.

A small wistful smile grew on Veronica’s face and she chuckled. “Sure, barbeque or normal?” 

“Get me barbeque, now shoo” Chandler waved her away once more as she turned away from her, her eyes checking her red painted nails. Veronica simply nodded before making her way inside.

As if in autopilot, Veronica’s body quickly found the specified snack and she picked up a can of soda while she’s at it. She stepped up to the counter and just as she was about to pay, she tensed and glanced to her side where she was met with a familiar trench coat, her eyes turned up and she stared at a familiar and hated face.

“Greetings and Salutations, you a Heather?” He smirked as he gestured at the jeep, in his free hand was a slushie.

Veronica’s eyes narrowed and she snorted, a hateful smile growing on her face as she quickly paid and grabbed her stuff. “You a stalker?” she retorted as she backed away from the counter, already making her way to the door. Her hands in her pockets, if she had it out, it would’ve been obvious that they were balled into tight fights.

“Nope, I’m just curious” He replied, from behind her and she glanced behind her shoulder before snorting once more.

“Whatever you say,  _ ‘Just curious.’ _ You should be careful about what you’re prodding” She barked out a laugh before exiting the store, “Curiosity killed the cat y’know and I’d rather not deal with hiding a body for the girls” She jeered. “See ya~” with that she managed to walk away without punching him in the face, an accomplishment really.

She didn’t look back, if she did then she would’ve noticed the interested gleam in his eyes as he slurped his slushie.

He chuckled and sipped his drink, his eyes narrowing onto the blue back of one Veronica Sawyer who seemed rather busy talking with those… Heathers. Not a Heathers she says? Not right now, maybe in the far future.

“Curiosity may have killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back, didn’t you know that Veronica?” He said as he finally finished his drink, he turned away and tossed the drink in the trash.

When he turned back, Veronica and Duke’s jeep was gone.


	5. Interesting Developments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Choices and odd changes

_ (CHAPTER 5- Surprising Relationships) _

Two days into Martha's sick week and Veronica was beginning to get… irritated. 

Everything was going well! Duke was now seeing her more for talking than purging and McNamara's English grades were getting better and better.

Chandler… they hadn't talked and Veronica was fine with that. The longer she stared at the red-clad teen, the longer she'd see that red turn into drain cleaner blue and she didn't want to deal with that.

No, the reason why she was irritated was that after her and Jason Dean's conversation, it was as if he was everywhere, in the hallways, by the gates and in the cafeteria. It was annoying and she was beginning to get very paranoid. 

Veronica leaned against the school, in her hand was a burning cigarette, her eyes watching the embers and she wondered if she was really doing this.

She already took a hit and the familiar feeling of nicotine allowed her to relax slightly but she was still in guard.

She hadn't smoked in  _ months, _ even before she arrived here. She was too busy with other things to care about a stick but now? When she has too much free time? It was either smoking or her other methods… of stress relief and she couldn't do those because she was still technically a minor.

She sighed and continued to stare at the burning paper, not all is lost though, she could still relieve her stress through fighting but not a lot of people wanted to pick a fight with the girl who beat up two jocks.

She clicked her tongue, pressed her cigarette at the ashtray and began walking away, not at all feeling relieved. If anything she got even more irritated than before.

**_'Ding!'_ **

Her eyes flicked to the inside of her jacket, she unzipped it and brought out the burner phone. She flipped it open and was met with a text from  _ 'Green.' _

_ [Green]: Hey _

_ What happened to you? I've been waiting in the bathroom like a creep for the past ten minutes. _

Veronica snorted before quickly inputting her reply and began to make her way back to school, her body swerving past students as she entered the doors through the hallways and just as she turned the corner to enter the corridor to their bathroom/meeting place. She stopped and hastily turned back before peeking out the corner, her eyes wide at the sight of just who were guarding the bathroom door.

Veronica’s eyes were wide as she continued to stare, mouth slightly agape. Why are McNamara and Chandler waiting outside? They clearly don’t look like they were entering, if anything they looked like just two friends standing outside a door but it didn’t…  _ feel _ like it.

She brought out her phone, hoping that her presence was disguised by the other students who also loitered by and quickly typed her reaction to the sudden guards, a frown on her face as she glanced at the door once more.

The red and yellow duo seemed to be people watching, their eyes scanning the surroundings.

_ [You:] _

_ What’s with the guards? _

_ Here I thought that our time together is only between the two of us _

_ Y’know, two _

Veronica stared at her phone, waiting for her reply. She knew that Duke always replied fast, replied quickly and on the point so why did it take so long for her to reply? 

Veronica just clicked her tongue and checked her watch, she spent the first twenty minutes of recess outside thinking and now she spent five minutes waiting for a reply from a certain prissy green Duke. What is this? Just how much time do you need to explain the sudden watch guards?

“You say I’m the stalker but here you are, staring at them” Veronica jolted from her leaning position and turned to the person who talked to her, hands raised. Her eyes narrowed as she forcefully dropped her arms when she came face to face with one Jason Dean.

“Greetings and salutations,” She smirked as she fully faced him, “Do you need anything?” she asked as she flipped her phone closed and shoved it towards her pocket. It vibrated just as she slipped it in and she frowned, if Duke wanted to make her wait then she could do the same.

A quirk of his lips, “Trying to see if i should tell the teachers about a possible pervert leering at the girl’s bathroom” He shrugged and smiled, “just doing my duty as a model student of Westerburg High”

A snort escaped Veronica’s mouth “Truly you are a candidate for most vigil student” Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms, “Now… what do you want?”

“Straight to the point, i like that” His smile turned into a grin as he gave her finger guns, they dropped when he noticed that she wasn’t amused and he tried to salvage the situation by coughing into his fist. “Anyway, I was gonna ask for you lighter but I noticed that you looked a bit out of it when you were smoking on the side of the school. Blue”

Veronica let her suspicious gaze over him and she leaned onto the wall, if this Heather’s were different from hers, then maybe this JD would be different as well? He looked… normal enough, there wasn’t a hint of unhinge in his eyes like the last time and Veronica weighed her decisions, wondering if she was actually going to do this. 

Besides… if they were at least acquaintances, she could keep a much better eye on him just in case he does anything. Last she remembered, JD wasn’t the most social type so the possibility of him going to her for a talk or any possible bad ideas is rather high. 

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, her decision made as she hoped that she wouldn’t regret this. 

“Blue?” She inquired, a curious look on her face. 

Jason let out a short chuckle, “I wasn’t able to catch your name, so~” he waved towards the blue denim jacket Veronica always wore, then to the scarf “It’s either Blue or Scarf, you choose” he shrugged.

Veronica couldn’t help but shake her head as she remembered this scene from before. “It’s not like i threw it in the first place,” Jason let out a small  _ ‘touche’ _ as Veronica fully turned towards him and gave him a hand, “Veronica Sawyer, we have American History together”

He reached towards it, gave a wink and grinned as he shook it. “Jason Dean, I hope we also have Chemistry,”

Veronica immediately pulled her hand away, her hands up in faux surrender. “Sorry, but the only Chemistry i have is with the Heathers” She wasn’t even lying, she did have Chemistry with the Heathers.

Jason let out a dramatic sigh as he placed his hand against his forehead, “Such a shame,” He then bowed, “I pity you for having to deal with the Traffic Light Trio though” 

A choked laugh escaped her mouth when the image popped into her head, “Traffic lights- Pfft!” After some time of chuckling, she grinned at Jason. “You ain’t so bad Dean… for an emo”

Jason looked affronted before he chuckled, “Same goes for you Sawyer, you aren’t so bad for someone who looks like a delinquent”

Veronica blinked at that before looking down at her clothes, delinquent? How does a simple denim jacket and scarf make her look like a delinquent?

Before she could ask what he meant, her phone rang. They both blinked and Veronica brought out her phone and flipped it open, her brow raised when she was met with the words  **_‘Green is calling…’_ **

“Anyway, nice talk Jason but I'll have to take this.” Veronica nodded to her still ringing phone as she walked away, not even bothering to see if he heard her as she fully focused on her phone and when she noticed that she was far away from the bathroom, answered it.

She coughed into her hand and as if a light had flicked, her voice had changed. When she spoke to the phone, the change was noticeable. Instead of Veronica's once slightly deep voice, it was now much higher, less gravely, more peppy and smooth with a tinge of rasp. 

“Yello~ You called?” Veronica asked as she leaned against a wall, her eyes looking at her watch and noticed that she had at least twenty more minutes.

_ “Did you die or something Black?” _ Veronica couldn’t help but snort at her ‘alias.’ Since she wasn’t willing to give her name, Duke decided to call her by ‘Black’ due to her boots since that was literally the most she’d seen of her.

“Nah, just didn’t want to deal with your bodyguards.” Veronica then placed on a teasing tone “If i had known that you wanted an audience then you should’ve told me, i never took you for a girl that enjoyed those kinds of things”

Duke audibly scoffed through the phone and Veronica grinned, Duke may sound annoyed but she could just see the fond smile on her through the phone. It was something Veronica learned to spot after the third time of talking through a stall, it was a handy skill.

_ “Sorry Black but you're not my type, I only see your boots, not enough eye candy for me to even want to screw you. Besides, I'm happily in a relationship.” _ Duke said, her voice clearly proud and Veronica blinked at that, confused  _ “Case in point, the two girls that you say are my ‘bodyguards,’ who are also… y’know my most beautiful  _ **_girlfriends_ ** _ who are totally not staring at me right now” _

Veronica once confused eyes blinked wide in realization and she gulped, her mind not yet understanding the literal bomb Duke just dropped on her.

“What?” Veronica uttered, her mind blown as she tried to wrap her mind around this new information. 

Another scoff,  _ “And here i thought you were actually paying attention to what I’ve said.”  _ Veronica’s eyes widened when she heard a tinge of actual hurt in that tone and she immediately tried to explain.

“No no no no! That’s not what i meant! I mean- of course, I’ve been listening but i thought you meant _friend_ girlfriend, not girlfriend _ girlfriend”  _ Veronica hissed, her brain trying to work on what she had just heard.  _ What the hell? When did this happen? She didn’t remember any of this happening. _

_ What is going on? _

_ “Are- are you serious?”  _ Duke questioned, surprised in her voice. When she received no answer, she burst out laughing causing Veronica to turn a bit red in embarrassment as she pressed a hand against her mouth.  _ “Holy- Holy shit! You are! You really are a dunce Black! It was so obvious! I was literally gushing about them whenever we talked, how did you not get that?” _

“It’s… nothing like that!” Veronica growled her face aflame as she tried to hastily explain herself, her voice slipping back to normal, not registering Duke’s and someone else's shocked sputtering at the sudden change in pitch. “I just thought you were good friends!”

Before Duke could say anything, someone grabbed Veronica by the shoulder and she immediately turned, her phone snapping closed as she faced the person with a rather annoyed expression on her face. 

“Hey-” It was Jason and he removed his hand and raised them in surrender when he saw her glare, “-Listen before you kill me. I just wanted to say that we have five more minutes before American History” He placed them down once he saw that he definitely wasn’t going to get punched and placed them in his pockets. “Do what you will with that information” with that and a twist of his foot, Jason walked away probably going to History.

Veronica turned to her phone, the call was already done and she only had five more minutes before class so it wasn't like they could meet up and talk. She weighed the options in her head before jogging after him, eyes narrowed.

‘

“Let’s go to class Jason” She stated as she jogged passed him, she then sped up as she grinned behind her shoulder. “If you beat me in a race, I’ll buy you a drink!” with that, she sped up and swerved past students. Last she remembered, American History was on the other side of the school, enough space for a race.

Jason stood there, eyes wide before an excited grin appeared on his face and he started to run towards her. His eyes trained onto the flying scarf that wrapped around Veronica’s neck as he trailed after her, after some time of running, he managed to jog next to her and he gave a small shove to her shoulder. “Get ready to lose then! See ya in the finish line Blue!”

Veronica’s competitive nature sparked and she shoved him back, a grin on her face and Jason couldn’t help but feel a bit worried when he saw a certain glint in her eye, he couldn’t explain just what it was but he didn’t need to, all he needed to know was that it unsettled him.

“Don’t go making promises you can’t do Dean,” Veronica stated as she faced away from him and suddenly turned the corner, shocking Jason as he tried to see just why she would suddenly turn and because his attention was elsewhere, he didn’t notice the wall of lockers in front of him and he slammed onto it with a loud  **_THUD!_ **

He stumbled and fell on his ass, eyes wide at what just happened. As the realization of what he had just done registered in his mind, he scrambled to his feet and hastily tried to see a glimpse of denim blue.

He chuckled when noticed that he lost her in the crowd and ran a hand through his hair as he casually made his way towards the vague direction of American History, his pace slow as he passed by the students.

“You lose some, you win some” His lips quirked up, talking to Veronica wasn’t a bad idea after all. She was interesting, very interesting. With anger that she tried to hide, anger directed at  _ him  _ and that interested him. It wasn’t the kind of disgust anger that comes when a lowlife like him talks to anyone popular, it was more of history kind of anger and that intrigued him because he was sure that they hadn't met before.

Interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter than normal, i blame the fact that school just started.


	6. Real Or Not?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica fights, gets a slushie and a surprising call

_(CHAPTER 6- Fake)_

Veronica stared at her hand, her face blank as she felt the red liquid drip down her knuckles. The cooling of the blood relaxing her but a certain part of her felt… _empty,_ there wasn’t any euphoric achievement now, instead, it was the absolute opposite.

It was tedious.

So tedious.

She clicked her tongue and flicked her hand, spraying the liquid onto the floor and her eyes turned to the lying body a few feet away from her. It was dark out, so she was only able to see his silhouette but after the third time of fighting in the night, she knew how to fight with almost no vision.

Another month has passed since Martha’s sick week Veronica is tired as hell because she can’t believe that she had forgotten about how much of a stalker Jason is. A disgruntled look spread on her face as she wiped her glove covered hands onto the guy’s clothes, always following her around like he was a touch starved dog, so annoying.

She just wanted to fight people and get cash while she’s at it, so going to an underground fighting ring in the next town over is what she chose. That is until Jason had decided to bust it because he looks so dang suspicious and he has the subtlety of a brick to the head when he followed her that one time.

She crouched down to the body and glanced behind her shoulder, staring at the silhouette of one Jason Dean staring with eyes wide at the entrance of the alleyway. He glanced at the body before glancing up at her and she sighed as she stood up, rolling her shoulder before fully turning towards him. He flinched and stepped back at her action. She can’t help but feel a tinge of satisfaction at seeing that, she knew that they technically aren’t the same person but they had the same face and that was good enough for her.

“You know that you have to be hush-hush about what you just saw right?” She amusedly stated, her brow rose when she felt a flash of deja vu. She shook her head and stepped even closer, eyes narrowing and smile forming when he stepped back even more. “Come on Jason, you still owe me a slushie. I’ll explain as we walk”

With a twist of her foot, she brushed past him. Her smile turned into a grin when she heard him hesitantly step after her then he began to follow when she turned into a corner. She unclasped the gloves and placed them into a plastic bag that was then placed inside her jacket, a satisfied look on her eye. It was early in the morning, earlier than their supposed meeting time so there weren't enough people to see the slightly wet black clothes she’s wearing.

“What… what happened?” Jason asked, eyes wide as he finally walked side by her, “I knew that you fought but don’t you think that you went a bit… excessive?” He pointed behind his shoulder, “The...” he gulped and shifted his eyes side to side, “The amount of blood is rather concerning...” he trailed off quietly noticing that they were in public.

Veronica hummed before tilting her head to the side, “It was self-defence, Jason.” She reassured, patting his back before her smile turned a bit sad. “I’m sorry that you had to see that,” She scratched her neck as she turned away in shame, covering her amused smile from his sight “It’s just… with school and everything then them jumping me... fighting has always been my way of relieving stress and I tend to get carried away without noticing.”

When Jason placed his own hand on her shoulder, she had to stop herself from shoving it off her but she couldn’t do that so she turned to him with a grateful smile. Jason smiled back, a bit shakily but he patted her shoulder once more.

“Just-” he let out a breath “-just don’t make it a habit. I know that you’re a good person Veronica beneath all of…” he waved at all of her and he couldn’t help but smile at the affronted look that appeared on her face, “Beneath all of that brooding and blue,” He gave an awkward chuckle, “Besides you may look like a delinquent but that didn’t mean that you _are.”_

Veronica laughed, “You’re a good friend, Jason and i’m really grateful that you’ll keep it a secret” Her tone changed hesitantly, obviously trying to change the subject “Now let's go get my slushie! You still lost our race after all!” She sped past him, a shaky smile on her face.

As she subtly glanced behind her shoulder, the smile turned a bit sinister when she caught sight of the barely hidden concern in his eyes. The eyes are truly the windows to the soul, windows that barely had the common sense to put on binds like a normal person.

She chuckled beneath her breath, already knowing what he would do with what he saw.

He’s a good friend and good friends don’t snitch.  
  


_______________________________

As they sipped their slushies outside the 7/11, the air that was once awkward due to the recent incident now a bit more comfortable as they shoved each other and joked around.

However it wasn’t able to last when something rang from Veronica and both of them blinked confused and she checked the inside of her black hoodie, she couldn’t help but groan at the sight of Duke calling her.

It was the weekend, what would Duke need? Didn’t they agree to not talk whenever they aren’t in school?

She gave Jason an awkward smile and he let out an amused one and shook his head in understanding as he shoved her away, “Go answer your girlfriend, ‘Ronica”

Veronica’s brow rose, confused about how he even got to that idea. “Where’d you even get that idea? We’re just friends Jason, don’t go pushing random ideas,” she said as she stepped away.

“Pfft-” He snorted and rolled his eyes, “I know that you’re relationship is hush hush but you don’t need to hide from me,” The phone rang once more, “Now go, i bet that 

‘Green’ of yours wouldn’t be amused if you don’t answer.”

Veronica rolled her own eyes and answered the call, placing it on her ear as she turned the corner, far away from Jason as she leaned against the wall, she coughed into her hand and her tone changed.

“Hey, Everything alright? You don’t call unless something is wrong” She asked, a bit concerned. Duke wouldn’t call unless there was something important, did she have a bad session or something?

“This… is “Black” yes?” The voice was obviously different, nothing like Duke. It was clearly male and she didn’t know anyone with that voice. Veronica gulped and her grip on the phone tightened, something definitely happened. She pulled away and checked who called and it was still Duke’s number, so not a wrong number then.

“Yes, sir. This is “Black” speaking, do you need anything?” Her tone was much colder than her once warm greeting as she answered.

“I see, this is Heather’s Father and I’m inviting you over for dinner today.” A chuckle was heard, “she’s been happier with herself recently and i wanted to see this boyfriend on hers who seems to brighten my daughter’s day lately”

Veronica nearly dropped the phone in shock at what she heard, she coughed into her hand. “Er…” Her eyes scanned the area, first Jason and now even Duke’s father? “Yes sir, I'll be coming over for dinner. Is there something I need to bring?”

The father hummed, “Wear something formal, kid. Something green so you can match with my daughter’s dress. You know our address right?” Veronica gave a quick yes because she did, she just hoped that it was the same in this place. She’ll have to check it out herself later. “Come over at six-thirty sharp, we will start eating at seven” with that, the call ended leaving Veronica to panic silently at what just happened.

“What the hell… what just happened?” she uttered, eyes staring at her phone still in shock at what just happened. Everything happened so fast that what just happened hadn’t fully registered in her brain yet.

When it did, she didn’t burst out in shock but she instead stared blankly at the floor beneath her. Her eyes blinking as she fingered her a brown lock of hair, wondering if she should really do this.

She rolled over the pros and cons of her actually following through before shrugging. If she followed through, she’d be getting free food and Duke would owe her a favour and an explanation on what’s going on.

She looked down at her bloodied hoodie and ripped jeans, wondering if she should arrive in these before snorting. While hilarious, might bring their ire and she’d rather not deal with that.

She needed a haircut anyway, she also needed formal clothes for Senior Prom. So this was a win-win situation.

At least she hoped so.

As she jogged back to Jason, she skidded to a stop that nearly cause her to trip and smacked her head into the concrete floor when a realization struck her.

**Duke doesn't even know her actual name- lets not even talk about the fact that she's a _girl_ , not a guy!**

**_How did a simple weekend end with her having dinner as someone's boyfriend!?_ **

**_This is karma, she could feel it._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will finally use that Veronica/Duke tag


	7. Time And Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica and Duke bonding then Veronica impersonates someone

**_(CHAPTER 7- Gates)_ **

After giving Jason a quick goodbye, what she had just agreed had sunk at the moment she got into her room and she is rather horrified at what she had just done.

So she called her ‘girlfriend’ who owes her a very detailed explanation. After the first ring, Duke immediately picked up, much to Veronica’s relief. 

“Duke, what the fuck-” she was cut off, much to her ire but she had to be patient.

_“Listen, i haven’t come out to my parents yet and i heard your voice and it sounded believable enough and i panicked!”_

“But why, _me?”_ Veronica hissed as she checked her closet, her boots kicked off and lying by the door. Her hands shoved clothes to the side as she looked for any kind of formal clothes but she couldn’t find any or atleast any that’d give her the illusion of her as a guy. “We talk in the _girl’s_ bathroom, how did that equal to me being a guy!?”

_“You’re voice! You’re real one, it sounded like a guy’s and dad kept on asking me about my recent exploits and he’s really traditional so I can't say my_ **_actual_ ** _ones.”_

_“Besides, it's just one night. I’ll owe you one Black, I swear. Just act like the worst boyfriend tonight so i can say we broke up by tomorrow because you were just using me or something”_

Veronica groaned as she ran a hand through her hair, already giving up on searching any formal clothes in her closet. So complicated, everything was so complicated.

“Fine fine but you owe me and you better not tell anyone my actual name,” She grumbled, “I’d rather keep my boyfriend life away from my actual life”

_“What_ **_is_ ** _your name, anyway?”_

“Ron, Ron Black at your service”

_“Are-”_ Duke sputtered over the phone, a laugh escaping her _“- is that your actual name?”_

“No! It’s my alias! I’m not dumb enough to give you my real name like i just said I’m keeping my ‘boyfriend’ life away from my actual life”

_“Well it sounds dumb”_

“Says the one in a group that is literally their first names-”

_“Shut up Ron! I can literally ruin your social life”_

A teasing grin appeared in Veronica’s face as she stepped out of her room and looked around for some leather shining stuff that her dad used for his own leather boots, “Nah, you _like_ me after all~ Why else are we dating? Besides if you want to shut my mouth...” she left the next words unsaid. 

_“Like i said before, I’ve only seen your boots. Not enough to give me eye candy, maybe after I actually meet you face to face.”_

Veronica fake gasped, “But Duke! Didn’t you just say a month ago that you were in a happy relationship? What would they say?” She crouched down and finally found the tools she needed to clean her scuffed and dirty black boots and walked back to her room to clean them.

_“What they won’t know won’t hurt them”_

Veronica frowned, she didn’t like these implications. “I’m joking Duke but seriously, do they know the situation? I’d rather not accidentally strain your relationship,”

Duke scoffed, _“It’s already strained, what’s one more secret?”_

Veronica bit the inside of her cheek, a bad feeling settling inside her gut and she ran a hand through her hair once more. “You,” She sighed, “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Duke didn’t answer immediately and when she did, it was quiet, barely even heard over the phone but Veronica caught it. _“Later… not now”_

“SO!” Veronica started, quickly switching the subject knowing that if they continue this, it would be sombre for the rest of their talk and she’d rather not deal with that, “What’s the colour of your dress?” it was dumb of her to ask since Duke’s dad had already told her but why not ask the girl herself?

_“Green and gold, think you can match?”_ Duke’s once sad tone disappeared and became teasing.

“Your beauty could never be matched” and Veronica meant it, Duke always had something that differentiated her from the rest of the Heathers whether its her black hair that contrasted the other two blonds or the hazel eyes that seemed so much more inviting than blue. Duke was a beauty in their school, it was a bit sad that she didn’t believe it.

Duke laughed at what she said, it was a laugh someone gave when they didn’t believe what they heard but was trying to be polite. 

Veronica never liked that laugh.

______________________________________________

Veronica parked across the Duke residence and stepped off the motorcycle with a frown on her face as she stared at the gated house wondering how the hell she should come in. 

She patted down her leather jacket, she wasn’t wearing anything that fancy, just a white button-up folded up to her elbows with a simple sweater green vest and dark slacks along with her recently shined black leather boots. 

She ran a hand through her now short hair, her bangs swept back as she hopped side to side to stop the jitters she suddenly felt as she stood outside the gate. She frowned when some of her bangs flopped in front of her and she clenched and unclenched her hands, it has been a while since she had to meet someone’s parents.

Most of her relationships after JD were flings, fuck buddies or one night stands, not exactly a relationship you want to show off to your parents but she does have some manners, it was something she had to learn. Especially when you screw rich girls who want to wine and dine before getting to the main course but she couldn’t treat this situation like those.

She had to be the worst boyfriend ever, so how does one even be the worst boyfriend?

She didn't have alot of male role models, her dad was a good boyfriend how else would mom marry him so he was crossed out. A dark look flashed across her face, let's not even talk about the other males she had personally known, that was taking things too far if she tried to emulate them.

She perked up and smacked her fist onto an open palm, already having someone in mind. JD! He was like the only boyfriend she had and he was basically her worst boyfriend as her therapist had once told her but he wasn't _completely_ shit like the others, she blinked as a contemplative look crossed her face when she remembered what he did.

So she had to murder Duke’s best friend?

Veronica blinked and wondered how she should do so, maybe through Drano or shooting. The Drano way would be easy but where can she get a gun? There couldn't just be one, she had to do two or else she wouldn't be a good bad boyfriend.

She hummed then waved it away, she was sure that would be taking things a bit too far, so maybe something else? Something that isn’t illegal and wouldn’t lead her in a cell. She tapped her chin, JD was always pulling her into hugs and kisses whenever she was in a bad mood, so maybe that’s what she should do.

She’d have to warn Duke first though and see if she would agree.

Always ask for consent, it was the first thing she learned in her adventures.

Veronica looked around the gate, trying to see if there was a way for her to enter. There weren’t any open spaces and she wondered if she should break-in, it was what JD did for her.

Her eyes zeroed into some kind of tablet in the pillar next to the gate, she walked closer and it seemed to have some kind of button, a certain button with a bell symbol on it. Was it the doorbell? Looked rather high tech, she looked up and her brow rose, it even had a camera.

She waved and then poked the button with the bell, a long mechanical beep was heard and someone then spoke. 

“Hello, this is the Duke residence. What can we do for you?” It was clearly feminine and someone she didn’t know. Veronica looked around and jumped back when a small mic exited the tablet, she hesitantly spoke to the mic, her regular voice flowing out of her lips.

“Hi! Hello” Veronica coughed into her hand when she realized that she was acting normally, what would JD say? “Greetings and salutations, I’m Heather’s boyfriend. Mr Duke invited me over and I’m supposed to come at six-thirty,” 

They didn’t reply and she waited. A few more minutes passed and another beep was heard along with the opening of the gate, Veronica gulped and tugged at her sleeves and stepped inside, a blank look crossed her face when she saw Duke and… her dad? Standing by the door. At Least she was sure that it was Duke and her dad, she couldn’t really see well considering that they stood far away from her. The crappy lighting didn’t help either, it wasn’t her fault that she didn’t have night vision.

She straightened her shoulders and stood tall, JD always seemed to walk with purpose whenever he’s walking after her so she should do the same for Duke. Veronica once thought that it was rather intimidating with how much focus he had whenever he went towards her, so she tried to replicate his posture.

With her body tense and fists clenched, Veronica walked towards her girlfriend, a smile on her face. A mantra in her head, convincing her that it was just a night with her parents and she could do this.

What’s the worst that could happen?

  
  



	8. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica thinks she's doing a good job.
> 
> She's trying

**_(CHAPTER 8- Welcome to the Family)_ **

It got worse, it somehow got worse.

Veronica ‘Ron Black’ Sawyer was panicking, why wouldn’t you panic? After all, right across from her sat two Heathers, two red and yellow Heathers who seem rather busy glaring a hole into her head. Atleast McNamara's anger was adorable, with the scrunching of her brow and pout. Chandler seemed like a volcano about to erupt and rain down all her anger at her.

Looked kinda hot actually... Veronica quickly shook her head, No! Bad thoughts, not right now.

She glanced at her ‘girlfriend’ who seemed rather cool, as cool as a cucumber even. Didn’t seem that bothered that her friends were glaring a hole at her boyfriend and Veronica wondered what she was supposed to do now.

The other Heather’s also had their own parents -atleast she was sure that it was their parents they were wearing their children’s signature colours, who seemed to also stare at her before looking between themselves as they ate.

“Black,” Veronica perked up when her ‘name’ was called and turned to the head of the table, where Mr Duke sat. “How long have you been dating my daughter?” He had a calm smile on his face but she could feel that he was trying to be ominous.

She quickly chewed her food and swallowed it down with her drink, she even patted her face with a napkin because manners. Forcing herself not to glance at the glaring Heathers across from her.

“Just a few weeks sir,” simple and on the point but vague enough for her to bullshit when necessary.

“I see,” Mr Duke said as he folded his hands in front of him, his eyes glaring right at hers and Veronica wondered why so many people kept on staring at her. She knew that she was a bit out of place, with her slightly messy hair, leather jacket and boots but she didn’t think that it’d deserve tons of stares.

He then leant back, a hand nursing a glass of wine. “You do know what you are getting into, yes?”

Absolutely, her mind answered. She had to act like the worst boyfriend and in turn get a favour from Duke, both of them get what they want and everyone is happy. The glaring Heathers wasn't part of the plan but she could roll with it.

“Of course sir,”

“Listen, Black.” He flourished his free hand and took a sip from her glass, “You seem like a good kid, don’t look so bad either but i have a question.” He sipped it once more, his eyes then narrowed. “What are your intentions with my daughter?”

What are her intentions indeed, she’d ask herself that sometimes. Was she simply helping Duke out of guilt? Was she helping McNamara out of guilt? Or some kind of obligation? She didn’t know.

“My intention…” Veronica tilted her head, her focus turning to her girlfriend that sat next to her, she seemed to be tuning out the conversation. “Its... “ she hummed as she leaned onto her hand, trying to find the right words and she snapped her fingers when she found it. “It's a simple intention, sir” with how dazed and out of focus Veronica was, she didn’t see how Duke seemed to have turned a bit red and the frown on Mr Duke’s face. 

Veronica reached out to brush her hand against Duke’s, the green heather looked mad and so she had to do skin contact “It’s not exactly the noblest intention but it’s mine,” she traced circles around the softer and smoother skin as her eyes flickered to meet the eyes of Mr Duke’s. “Sir, I just want to make her happy,” 

That was an easy question, parents don't like it when their kid's lover/boyfriend is simple-minded right? Especially the rich ones, from the shows she remembered, they only like it when the boyfriend was ambitious and that intention certainly didn’t sound ambitious.

Besides It was true, she didn’t know why she was doing it but she did. Was it because whenever she stared at Duke across the cafeteria after their talks, Veronica would notice that the green Heather would feel a bit happier than normal and inturn she would feel happy? Was it the grin that McNamara had whenever she managed to pass a particularly hard test?

Or maybe it was because Veronica was someone that was trying to be a good person because she wasn’t.

“And you think _you_ can give it?” Mr Duke growled, brows furrowing. Veronica chuckled, you aren't supposed to laugh in a serious conversation.

“Nope,” the simple reply flabbergasted most of the people in the table, not that Veronica noticed with how busy she was in her thoughts. Veronica gave an embarrassed smile, “Not permanently, I’m just a boyfriend, sir.” See? Showing how worthless of a boyfriend she is must’ve lowered her value in their eyes. “Compared to her friends and family, I’m sure that i won’t even be the one in the alter, years in the future” 

“Care to elaborate?” Mr Duke asked, the wineglass he was nursing now on the table as he leaned onto his hand.

Veronica laughed once more, her hands intertwining with Duke's. An amused smile grew on her face when she noticed that her hand dwarfed the green Heather's hand. The Duke’s sure are sadistic if they were asking to repeat what she had just said. If she were Duke’s actual boyfriend, she would be insulted and hurt at the same time for asking her to repeat the brutal reality.

“Sir, who would invite their ex to their wedding?”

“How are you so sure that you wouldn’t be at the wedding?” Mr Duke said, his eyes staring at hers and Veronica rose a brow, wondering how the father hadn’t understood yet.

“Sir, I’m just a boyfriend.” From the blank stare she received, Veronica sighed and tried to see how she should explain herself, “I’m not exactly much right now and I’m sure that won't change in the future” She tightened her grip on Duke's hand before pulling away to scratch her neck. That was a nervous tick, right? Parents don’t like nervous guys since they look like cowards or something, they like a confident guy. “Your daughter is beautiful sir and she deserves someone better _far_ than me and that someone will marry your daughter.” she snorted. “Not right now of course, in the far future when she finally settles in her life.”

“You don’t seem bothered with that information.”

She wasn’t, they weren’t even dating but she couldn’t say that so Veronica settled with a smile and a shrug. Just keep smiling, that’s what JD did whenever they had a serious conversation and this seemed like a serious enough conversation.

“Why should i? I’m the one she’s with right now, I'm the one that is making her smile nowadays and that’s good enough for me.” Veronica finished her sentence with a sip of her water and a brush of her hand against Duke once more, all that talking has been making her a bit parched and she began to eat her mashed potatoes once more. 

That was a good enough reason, it sounded pretentious and self-centred enough so they must disapprove of her now.

Everyone was silent, the only sounds were the clinking of utensils against plates and the roaring of the fireplace behind Mr Duke.

“Black… What is your name?” Mr Duke asked and Veronica blinked, stopping mid-chew and since she was trying to be the worst boyfriend, she had to answer like a ‘commoner’ and rich people don’t like commoners. 

“Call me Ron” Veronica then continued to eat, not bothering to look because all that talking is making her hungry.

“Well then Ron,” Mr Duke clapped, causing ‘Ron’ to look up from her food to look at him with a raised brow. “You may call me Henry”

Veronica absentmindedly nodded, refocusing back to her food but if she didn’t answer that’d be rude so she just gave him a thumbs up with her free hand. Since she was too busy with her food, she didn’t notice the shocked looks of her schoolmates, she didn’t even notice the approving nods that Duke’s parents gave a horrified Duke. The horrified look grew when the other adults in the tables also nodded, much to the despair of the red and yellow Heather.

Veronica blinked when someone placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to look up, she was met with the smiling face of one Mr Duke, a satisfied and content look on his face.

She wondered how he even got behind her, was he going to knock her off the chair in retaliation? Because that looked like a face you’d give when you’re trying to be calm but you truly aren’t, at least he was waiting until she was done eating, he may beat her ass but he sure is polite.

“I welcome you to the family Ron, I hope you enjoy your stay.”

Veronica just stared confused before nodding, the food was surprisingly good and she did enjoy her stay. Also the underlying threat beneath those words sure are ominous, she must’ve done a good job in being a bad boyfriend lets just hope that it isn’t too good, she’d rather not accidentally be a dead body in a ditch.

“Thank you for accepting me,” She said, a bit confused before realization sunk in. Woah! She must've done a great job if he was trying to be civil with her. He was probably waiting for her to go home so he could jump her or something.

He patted her shoulder once again (must be some kind of morse code) and walked back to his seat while giving Mrs Duke a look to which the older lady nodded. She glanced at Duke, who had the expression of a deer in headlights and the ‘What the fuck’ look in one face. Huh, she must’ve done a really good job in being a bad boyfriend if she was looking like that.

Veronica couldn’t help but feel a bit let down, she expected a spiel on how she’s not worthy and a beating like those TV shows but considering that the night wasn't over, she could wait.

  
_____________________________________________

Veronica was in the kitchen, folded sleeves folded even higher as she wiped down the dishes. Her leather jacket tied across her waist, showcasing her arms to the world.

RIch people don’t like it when you’re doing the jobs of servants, right? That must be why Mr Duke nodded to the servant next to her when she asked if she can help, probably surprised at her audacity or something and enjoyed her free labour before kicking her out. Before Veronica could even talk to Duke and ask if she did a good job, she was dragged away by the rest of the Heathers as soon as they were dismissed.

That… was kinda rude but she wasn’t complaining. She was trying to make herself look bad and if it worked then that’s good!

“Ron,” Mr Duke said as he passed by her, “Follow me,”

Veronica looked at the person she was helping and they nodded, so after helping one more plate. Exited the kitchen and followed the taller man, a contemplative look on her face as they twisted and turned through several halls to reach… his study?

“Greetings and salutations,” Veronica said as she stepped into the room, a brow rising when she saw the two men just standing around the study, bandages on their hands.

They were Chandler and McNamara's fathers! They had the red and yellow colour scheme and everything.

Veronica blinked and realization struck her once more. This is a fight! a spark of anticipation grew inside of her and she shut the door behind her.

Be confident and stuff, JD always fought whenever it involved her so she had to do the same. Prove that she was overbearing and excessive and all that bad stuff that her therapist once told her.

"Ron, do you really know what you are getting into?" Mr Duke said, in his hand was a shot glass, the ice blinking as he nursed it.

Mr McNamara, a blond man who looked a lot like his daughter, grinned and grabbed the drink of Mr Duke's hand and took a sip as he leant on the table. Veronica blinked when she saw that he was covered with expensive-looking rings.

"Relax Henry," another sip and he placed it down so he could flourish his hand in her direction. "The poor kid already told his intentions at the dinner table, no?" 

Veronica didn't know if he was pointing out her predicament or the fact that she was essentially 'poor' compared to him.

Mr Duke just grunted in annoyance as he brought out another glass and began to make another drink for himself.

"Who would've thought that a kid like you was Sirius." Veronica jumped and turned to her right, where Mr Chandler stood with an amused yet calculating look in his eyes.

Veronica straightened herself and nodded, "yes sir, I am very serious"

A snort escaped Mr Duke while Mr McNamara seemed to have accidentally choked on his ice as he wheezed out a laugh. Mr Chandler was equally amused, with how his lips quirked up and he patted her in the shoulder before walking past her and grabbing the drink Mr Duke was about to sip much to his annoyance.

"You're truly hilarious kid," he said as he leant on the other side of the table, a finger nursing the drink. He pressed it against his lips and took a sip, "it's sad that Heather wasn't able to get to you first."

Huh, the underlying threat in those was clearly heard, these guys don't play around. Truly the wrath of father code is high in these times.

Mr McNamara nodded, "Yep! But finders keepers as the kiddos nowadays say." he turned to an annoyed Mr Duke who seemed to finally have his own drink to sip. "Your daughter has great eyes, Henry."

Mr Duke let out an approving grunt as he downed his drink in one go and pushed himself up, the chair scraping against the floor as he began to make his way towards her. His green eyes staring at her hazel ones and she rose a brow, ready to fight.

He seemed to have noticed this with how he chuckled and waved it away as he stood in front of her. “You’re young but that means that you have a lot of space to grow and with your history.” The three men across from her chuckled, especially at the word history even Mr Duke was a bit more amused than normal especially when he noticed the confused look on her face. “Yes, your history. Do you really think we won’t know just who you are? You did a good job covering it up but nothing gets past us, especially in a place like Sherwood.”

Mr McNamara came from behind, a crunch heard from his jaw as he bit down on his ice. “You have a short but rather interesting background Black,” in his hand was a case file, he tapped it with an approving look and a wink. “You’d be a great enforcer.”

Mr Chandler scoffed, still in his place by the table but on his hands was another case file. He gave her a glance and nodded, “Enforcer? Figures that a brute like you would think so.” he flipped through it and hummed in approval, “Do you know where he places this money? It's absolutely genius and if my calculations are correct, the amount of cash that he’ll bring in...” He snapped the case file close and placed it on the table, “The professional forgery is also a plus, he’s a good catch, Henry.”

“Of course,” Mr Duke grinned as he glanced towards Mr Chandler, a proud look on his face before it was dashed away as he focused back on her once more. Veronica didn’t flinch when he placed a hand on her shoulder, she definitely didn’t flinch when he smiled. “Like I last said, I welcome you to the family Ron.” he chuckled and swiped some imaginary dust from her shoulder. “But that isn’t your name now is it?”

“You should work on your naming skills though,” Mr Chandler uttered as he took a swig of his drink. "Grey and Black... not even trying to hide it," he grumbled beneath his breath and Veronica couldn't help but feel a bit insulted by that.

“Or should we say~” Mr Chandler chirper, a glint in his eyes.

“Sirius Grey.” All three of them chorused and Veronica couldn’t help but feel a wave of _something_ come over her.

Veronica furrowed her brow, confusion clear in her features before her eyes widened at what she just heard. 

“What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Veronica: *Thinks she's doing a great job in being a bad bf*
> 
> Veronica: *does the opposite and becomes the worst at being the worst bf, she's trying though*
> 
> Duke: WTF? This ain't the plan-


	9. Good Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connections

**_(CHAPTER 9- Job Well Done?)_ **

Veronica froze at that name.

Sirius Grey, one of the many names she had created. it was an alias that she used whenever she fought in the next town over, It was also being sponsored by another name she had made.

Ron and Sirius weren’t supposed to be connected to each other because they **_aren’t._ **Sure they were made and used by the same person but they weren’t supposed to intertwine, their history and uses aren’t supposed to get tangled among each other.

Veronica froze before she snorted, forcing a faux confused look to appear on her face as she cocked herself to the side with a smile but before she could laugh at their accusation, a thought hit her in the head.

Wait! This was a good thing! Sirius is violent since she mostly uses that name whenever she fights, like JD! And JD is bad so she _has_ to agree.

So she nodded and gave them a bemused look, she wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that she (As in Veronica not Ron) was Sirius, she just didn’t talk about it because who talks about their illegal exploits so openly? Besides her regulars in the fight place know not to go spilling each other's names, they had a code.

“Yes…?” she scratched her cheek with a finger. “Is there a problem with that?”

Because if there was then that meant that she’s doing a good job! Veronica mentally pumped a fist to the air then a wave of realization and her face fell slightly.

Veronica gave them finger guns, her bemused look turning a bit worried as she gave an awkward smile. “You aren’t going to tell on me, right? I’d rather not have to deal with a jailbreak on the weekend, I have school the day after tomorrow y’know.”

Mr Chandler peeked over Mr Duke’s shoulder and nodded, “At least he has his priorities in order,” He murmured.

Mr McNamara and Duke laughed and smiled respectively. McNamara's father glanced at Chandler and Duke, the green and red wearing men nodded and walked to the back of the room, talking lowly to each other as they compared two case files that laid on the desk.

“You go to Westerburg High, yes?” Mr McNamara asked, a glint on his eye as he chewed on another piece of ice, his sentence finishing with a rather ominous crunching of solid water.

"Yessir," Veronica answered, standing taller than normal. From what she remembered, Mr McNamara was a military man before retiring and starting his jewellery business. Was he the one that was going to arrest her? Can retired military personnel even arrest people? She had no idea.

Mr McNamara huffed and ran a hand through honey blond buzz-cut hair, the colour reminiscent to his daughter's. He then placed his hand into his pocket and unfolded a piece of paper and showed it to her. 

Veronica blinked and looked closer, it was her handwriting…? Why would he have a paper with her handwriting?

"This is yours, right?" 

She nodded, it was indeed hers. 

Another huff escaped the man and he folded it before placing it back to his pocket. "Figures that the kid that was helping Henry's kid was also helping mine." The lines under his eyes crinkled as he smiled baring his teeth as he patted her on the shoulder, "Thank you for helping my daughter on her English grades, perhaps you could tutor her? I will pay the necessary amount of course. She's been so much happier that her grades were getting higher despite the fact that it was only one subject."

Veronica's eyes narrowed, "how much are you going to pay?" Hey, he was offering and she did need the money. Well not exactly need, it was just for safekeeping.

A glint grew in his eye and his grip on her shoulder tightened, his brow burrowing as his green eyes stared at her hazel ones. "If you do a good job and she gets good results, you get a hundred to even two hundred Euros." He patted her shoulder once more, the weight of his hand nearly causing her to topple over if it weren't for the fact that she had to act superior and you can't topple down if you're superior.

His grip then immediately tightened and Veronica couldn't stop a wince from escaping her when his fingers dug into her skin, nails piercing the part between her collarbone and neck. "But if you don't give good results and this was all a scam…" he chuckled as he finally released her poor shoulder to crunch down onto another ice that he took from his drink, his teeth biting down and crunching it ominously. "You get the point."

Before the taller man could continue, muffled shouting was heard from outside the room and Mr Chandler groaned, a hand on his brow with an embarrassed look on his face no doubt recognizing his daughter's voice even if it was muffled. Mr McNamara's face fell and he sighed, glancing elsewhere as he backed away. Mr Duke was impassive, face blank as he stared down at the documents in his hand but the whitening of his knuckles showed what he felt, he sighed before he glanced up at her, an odd glint in his eyes. 

"It seems that my daughter and her two friends are fighting again." he took a sip of his melted drink. "Do help her out, just follow the shouting for directions." he shook his head and refocused back on the file as if the screaming and arguing were normal. 

Veronica nodded and exited the room, the door shutting behind her and now that she was outside the study, the shouting was much more obvious but still quite muffled. She strained her ears and managed to get some words out as she made her way to the source, going through some stairs and swerving past corners.

_"Like… forgot about….us!... who do you…. I thought!-"_

Veronica stopped at the start of the corridor, where she finally managed to hear at least some of the conversation. It was clearly Chandler who was shouting, nothing heard from McNamara or Duke but that was probably because their voices were down.

_“You flaunted…. In front of us!... didn’t even… never even told!-”_

Veronica slowly walked to the door, her hand raised to knock but she stopped at what she heard next.

_“It’s not my fault!... You…. the one… that got jealous!”_ Instead of Chandler, this was Duke’s voice and Veronica wondered if she should even interrupt. This sounds very personal and she didn’t want to be rude and intrude but considering that she was already eavesdropping what's wrong with barging in. _“Ron… just friends!... you’re the one… that got those ideas! You… the one that… didn’t trust… I needed a friend! Ron…. that….friend! Get that through your head Heather!”_

**_“CAN YOU SHUT UP HEATHER!”_ **Now this, this was the time to barge in. She remembered the last time someone told Duke that and everything nearly went to shit, her knuckles heavily banging onto the wooden frame of the door hoping that the noise would catch their attention and it did.

“Hey, Duke! is everything alright? I heard shouting-” Veronica stopped midway when she noticed that the shouting almost immediately quieted down. “-Uhm… Do I need to come in?”

Wait, does JD even ask to come in? Duke asked for her to be the worst boyfriend for one night and she can do so now. So she knocked once more and grabbed the doorknob but before she could twist it open, the door swung inside, dragging her along with it. With how fast everything was happening, she wasn’t able to quickly react to someone grabbing the collar of her button-up shirt and throwing her on her back with her own momentum much to Veronica’s shock and annoyance.

She let out an ‘Oomph’ when she had someone’s heel press against her bound chest, she quickly inhaled and tried to see just who decided to do so. Her eyes trailing from the red heels to a bent by the waist Heather Chandler who had her face in front of hers, steel blue eyes glaring into her hazel ones.

Veronica glared, shoving her head closer causing Chandler’s eyes to widen, probably not expecting her to do so. Veronica gripped the girl by the ankle and tightened her grip, her annoyance clear on her face as her eyes turned to Duke standing a bit farther away from them.

  
“Hey! What’s the big deal? I was just trying to check up on Duke.” She growled as she jumped to her feet, shoving away the red heel nearly causing Chandler to trip if it weren’t for the fact that Veronica grabbed her by the shoulder stabilizing the red coloured girl. 

“Ron…” Duke shakily breathed in, trying to fix her breathing. “you should leave,” she stated as she looked away, her shoulders slumped and voice shaky. McNamara looked like she didn’t know what to do, eyes wide and shifting between the three of them, hands fiddling against the ends of her yellow skirt.

“Yeah _Ron,_ you should leave.” sneered Chandler as she shrugged off the hand on her shoulder and Veronica had to stop herself from doing something she’d regret, especially when she saw a glimpse of blue and red in the corner of her eye. 

Veronica roughly exhaled and shook her head as she squared her shoulders, a dark on her face as she glared down at Chandler with a mocking smile on her face as she got into character. _“Eh?_ What are you going to do about it Red? I didn’t know that such a domineering girl like you was into getting her ass beat.”

Veronica blinked when Chandler turned red, very red and she got a bit worried. Had she gone a bit far? Should she lay it off a bit? 

She got her answer when Chandler gave her a right hook to the face, the sudden attack caused Veronica to stumble back, eyes wide when she felt something drip down her nose. She wiped it with her hand and a spark of _something_ grew when she saw the blood, she chuckled and straightened herself as she smeared the blood on her pants.

She knew that Chandler was a rough girl but to think that she actually _fought?_ The girl complained whenever she had to do anything physical, why else would she have Kurt and Ram? This was a nice surprise though, a very nice surprise.

“Says the one that is smiling after getting punched,” Chandler scoffed, her eyes staring at hazel ones and Veronica chuckled once again as she used her shoulder to wipe her nose, she frowned when she realized that she wasn’t wearing her leather jacket which meant that she stained her white shirt with her blood.

“Touche,” Veronica said as she wiped her nose once again with her hand, she could just ask to use the bathroom so she could wash it. “Listen, I don't get what’s the problem between you and Duke but if you're the girlfriend she keeps on yapping about then you have nothing to worry about between the two of us.” She pointed at the green Heather who looked rather shocked at the sudden attention brought to her, “Me being her ‘Boyfriend’ is just a one-night thing, something about her dad being homophobic and traditional.” Veronica pinched her nose, trying to stop the bleeding, she’d rather not suffer from blood loss, the dizziness and lightheadedness were annoying. “Just talk shit out like normal people, don’t go shouting at each other when emotions are high because you might say stuff that you’d regret.”

Chandler was silent but her mind was clearly on a whirl of emotions before she growled and slapped the taller girl in the face much to no one's surprise. Veronica just rolled her eyes, she expected to get smacked and she allowed it. It’s much better if the red-clad girl let out her frustrations at her instead of Duke, then they can talk it out and everything will be alright. 

“You done?” She asked, face blank. She got her answer once more when she was smacked… once again.

“Who-” A smack. “Do-” another smack. “You-” another smack. “Think-” a slam against her chest this time causing Veronica to wince. “You-” another slam. “Are!?” Chandler grabbed Veronica by the collar and brought her down to her level, popping one button much to her annoyance to glare eye to eye. “The audacity!-” she wasn’t able to continue when Veronica grabbed the wrist that was about to smack her once more.

“Listen, Red. Violence isn’t the answer, I let you do it not once, not twice but a whole seven times. That’s a crap ton of freebies and I'm not a masochist,” Veronica said with a roll of her eyes as she released the girl to which Chandler began to rub at her wrists while glaring up at her, face red before she looked everywhere but her.

Veronica sighed, already feeling so exhausted and wishing that she could just bounce and leave but she was already knee-deep in their bullshit so she couldn’t just leave now. She ran a hand through her hair, staining it slightly with her blood much to her annoyance. “Just… talk shit out, I’ll be in the bathroom cleaning up all this blood. I’d rather not drive home looking like a suspect to a murder.”

She unveiled her leather jacket from her waist and shrugged it on, covering the blood on her shoulder as she opened the door to leave. However, she wasn’t able to fully exit when someone grabbed the collar of her jacket to catch her attention.

She turned and came face to face… with McNamara? Veronica’s brow rose and she tilted her head to the side to see Duke and Chandler quietly talking in the bed. Sometime’s Chandler’s voice would get louder but when Duke nudged her with a hand, it seemed that the red-clad girl would calm down even if slightly. 

McNamara had an awkward smile on her face as she not so subtly looked behind her shoulder to see the red and green duo in the bed. Chandler still looked mad, so did Duke but they seemed to be talking stuff out much to Veronica’s relief, it’d suck if Duke went full-on JD on her own girlfriend.

A worried look struck her face at that thought, what if one of the Heathers went JD? She grimaced, that’d be annoying to deal with but it was plausible. Heather D had nearly driven Heather Mc to death back in her old life so it was something that could happen and she frowned, how could she have overlooked such a detail? Was she perhaps losing sight of her original goal?

What _was_ her original goal, anyway? Veronica’s brow furrowed. She was helping the Heathers but she was sure that there was more but before she could continue her trail of thought, someone called for her.

“You’re new to Duke’s house right?” Veronica blinked and came back to reality when she realised that McNamara was still in front of her and she nodded to the yellow Heather’s question, a bit confused on what she had needed. “I’ll show you the way.” with that, the shorter girl began to pull the crossdressing girl away from the room leaving the two Heathers alone to talk.

Veronica trailed after the yellow Heather, eyes glancing at the closed door where they once came from before refocusing to the shorter girl.

Thoughts for another time, right now she had to clean the blood from her shirt so her Parents won’t get suspicious.

______________________________

Ron Black…. He was interesting, to say the least.

Harrold Chandler took a sip of his drink as he leaned against the wall, eyes scanning his two brothers in arms as they stared down at the numerous case files involving one Ron Black detailing his ‘past’ what he’d done and who he was involved in.

Henry Duke took a sip of his drink, eyes hyper-focused on the two case files lying on the table. Henderson McNamara was also there, trying to not so subtly glance at the papers, his drink finished leaving only the ice to melt on the glass.

Harold was sure that the past military man was debating whether or not he should take back what he had just offered to the kid, especially when he flipped into a much more detailed page of the several beatings Ron (Unofficially) had taken part in. Sure, Ron would be a great enforcer or even a guard but the blond man was worried about the fact that Ron might be part of a rivalling group probably out to target his daughter.

Even Henry looked a bit worried, obvious with how his brow furrowed and a frown would deepen slightly as they continued to read the files.

Harrold’s lips quirked up slightly, what a worrywart those two are, didn't he see what Ron looked like whenever he glanced at their daughters?

He chuckled, causing the two to look up and raise a brow, he just shook his head and waved back to the packs causing the two to refocus back to the files none the wiser.

Didn’t they see just how attached Ron was? 

Didn’t they see what he could be capable of when left alone?

Didn’t they see the _potential?_ Absolutely wafting of him the leather-wearing boy?

**_Well, that was fine because he did and he was going to watch as everything happened. He was waiting for this moment and now that he saw it? He wasn't letting it go to waste._**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhh, i'm sorry if it seems a bit OOC. But i had no idea how to make it click onto place so please deal with me. I'll try to lessen the OOC-ness in the next chapters. This is also mostly in Veronica's perspective, so she would be left out in some reactions and what was happening.


	10. A Song

**_(CHAPTER 10- Music)_ **

That’s about it.

Veronica managed to clean her shirt, escape in haste when she realized that it was nearly ten and she needed to go home before curfew so she drove back home in one piece after texting Duke of her sudden departure. She was a bit relieved that there were no Heathers attempting to jump her in the middle of the street or any hitmen just sitting in her bed like some creepy stalker in the mood.

So here she was, in school four days after the dinner at recess leaning back on her chair as she listened to the chatter of Martha and Jason. They non surprisingly hit it off the moment she had introduced them after Martha’s sick week and the pudgy girl was a bit happy that she had more friends to talk to other than Veronica.

Jason and Martha looked rather shocked at her new haircut before saying that it fit her when she entered school on Monday, saying compliments or in Jason’s case; compliments hidden in insults with a pinch of assholery.

Veronica yawned as she pushed up her scarf to cover the bottom half of her face, eyes drooping in drowsiness as she slumped onto the table but despite how sleepy she was her eyes would still trail towards the Heathers group a few tables down, a smile growing when she noticed that they weren’t as tense as yesterday. It seemed that they managed to talk it out, the nice thought nearly made her drift to sleepy land if it weren’t for the flash of red that suddenly appeared behind closed eyes that caused her to shoot up awake.

She grimaced and ran a hand through her brown locks, her eyes closing as she focused on not tugging at her short strands of hair already knowing that she was just seeing things. She stayed up late yesterday after all, she was just seeing things because of the little sleep she got.

“Oh yeah~” Veronica opened an eye to glare at Jason the moment she heard that tune escape his lips, he was gonna do something dumb and the shit-eating grin on his face showcased that she was right but in his eye was a glint of concern probably seeing how she acted a few moments earlier and she nodded begrudgingly grateful.

_(A small part of her was glad that there was someone to take her mind off other things.)_

“Martha, did you know just what ‘Ronica did last friday?” He leaned on his left hand, his other free hand covering the right side of his face as a weak attempt to be secretive as he leant closer to Martha that sat to his left. “Because our dear ‘ol ‘Roni over there-” He whispered as he waved his hand in the direction of the glaring scarf-wearing teen. “-Had to have dinner with her girlfriend’s parents, something about getting their blessing and a wedding.” He winked, his grin widening.

Martha gasped, hands on her mouth as her eyes were wide in surprise as she turned to Veronica. “Omigosh Veronica!” she clapped and smiled. “You never told us that you had a girlfriend, who is she? Do we know her?” Martha began to shoot off question after question something that Veronica tuned out the moment she heard Martha repeat herself the second time.

Her eyes glanced back to the Heathers table and she watched Duke stand up and exit the cafeteria, she shifted her sight and gave an amused Jason a side glare, it was obvious that he planned this from the raised brow and glint in his eye. 

The asshole.

Veronica straightened herself and before she could shoot down the dumb ideas Jason was giving poor Martha, her burner phone rang and she didn’t need to look at Jason to not notice the huge smugness just wafting of the trench coat emo for ‘proving’ him right.

Jason leaned back to Martha, a grin on his face. “You hear that Martha?” Martha nodded, a bit confused. “That’s the alarm Veronica has for her _girrrrlllfriend~_ It's to go to the bathroom for a quickie before class. Which isn’t quick at all because she spends like thirty to twenty-five minutes in that place.”

Martha gasped, shocked that her friend would do that in _school_ of all places! She turned to her friend since diapers and gave a disapproving look, mentally saying how unsanitary and shameless that is as she shook her head with a frown and a furrow of a brow.

Veronica rolled her eyes already knowing what Martha was insinuating and slumped at her chair, just the way Jason said ‘girlfriend’ and what he insinuated nearly made her want to punt him to the ground, that and the fact that they were in the _cafeteria,_ a public place! This asshat doesn’t know shit about being silent.

Veronica stood up, ready to shove the guy to the floor so they could fight out their difference, anything to distract herself but she wasn’t able to do so when her phone rang once again causing her to groan as she pushed herself away from the table, smacking the only guy in their group on the back of the head causing him to bark out a laugh as he grinned.

“She’s not my girlfriend you emo, get that through your head.” She growled, a hand rubbing her brow in annoyance. Her hand dropped and she looked away, an embarrassed look on her face as it turned a bit red trying to not allow her eyes to stray towards the Heathers usual table where a certain ‘Green’ last sat, she couldn’t help but blink a bit confused when she noticed that the trio wasn’t there before she shrugged. They were probably out to get ready for class or something and turned to Martha. “And there’s nothing like... _that_ going on so you got nothing to worry about Martha.”

Jason faux winced. “You poor girl, who would’ve thought that the ‘Green’ of yours was waiting ‘till marriage.” He shrugged, glancing behind his shoulder and gave her a mocking smile. “I feel so bad for you Veronica, no wonder you’re so high strung all the time. Did Green leave you high and dry last week?”

He got another smack to the head as his answer as Veronica grumbled away, waving a fretting Martha a goodbye as she exited the cafeteria, a red blush on her face. His laugh trailing after her as she sped to her and Duke’s designated bathroom, mind awhirl with very bad thoughts that she desperately did not want to think off.

This guy… he was lucky that she didn’t want to set him off because if she did then she would’ve thrown him off a bridge out of annoyance and anger. 

Veronica clicked her tongue and closed the alarm as she slowed her pace, eyes casually drifting through the lockers where several fliers that were hung yesterday it also seemed to be something that most people liked to talk about nowadays and as she passed by one, she noticed that it was something about a musical. She tilted her head wondering if she remembered anything about that before she shrugged, it wasn’t her business.

She would’ve continued reading if it weren’t for the fact that she caught sight of a familiar red robe in the corner of her eyes, she roughly swallowed her saliva as she turned the corner but no matter how much she sped up, _she_ was still there.

Her hands balled into fists as she forced her eyes forward, not allowing herself to look back and she let out a sigh of relief the moment she saw the familiar door of her and Duke’s meeting place. With a relieved smile, Veronica pushed her hair back making it look similar to how Ron’s looked like on Friday just with less gel.

She pushed it open and entered however before she could give her usual greeting. She stopped the moment she caught sight of Duke just casually leaning on the sink as she observed her face in the mirror with a brush on her hand probably touching up her makeup. Veronica blinked, a bit confused as she entered and locked the door behind her.

The moment she switched the door from ‘unlocked’ to ‘lock’ Duke sharply turned towards the noise and began to power walk her way to Veronica, black hair in a low ponytail swinging side to side along with her body swaying if a predator sauntering up to her prey.

The taller girl raised her hands in surrender, a bit intimidated at the furrowed brows and the rather dangerous glint in the eyes of the girl in front of her. They usually talked through a stall and having all that intensity focused on her was… a bit weird and something she isn’t exactly used too.

They weren't able to talk at all since the start of the week, something about how Duke had to cancel due to her needing the time to talk to her girlfriend and 'talk shit out' like she had just told them last Friday.

The moment Duke stopped in front of her, Veronica had to stop herself from instinctually shoving her away especially when Duke grabbed her by the collar and dragged her to the middle of the bathroom. Fingers pushing both of Veronica’s cheeks together as Duke swung her face everywhere, eyes glaring and staring as if searching for something.

“Erm… Duke?” Veronica gave a confused and very awkward look towards the shorter girl. “What is-” she wasn’t able to continue because she was abruptly brought downward so she and Duke met face to face.

“Sing for me,” Was all the green Heather said and Veronica blinked, oh so confused. She knew that the girl liked music but in the _bathroom?_

“What?” she uttered, brows furrowing as her body tried to get comfortable in this odd position. Her shoulders slumping and she bent her knees to help keep her balanced.

“Sing for me,” Duke repeated, her face blank but there was a glint in her eyes as if she got what she wanted but wasn’t so sure yet. “You can sing, right? You used to hum and sing anything whenever we didn't have anything to talk about.”

Veronica gave an awkward smile, “In the bathroom?” Her confusion grew when Duke gave a single nod and she wondered why the hell she was going to sing in the bathroom of all places. “What do you want me to sing about?”

Duke hummed and finally released Veronica’s poor cheeks much to the girl’s relief as she stood up cracking her stiff bones. Her eyes and body turned so she could scan the room, probably trying to see some kind of inspiration or something along those lines.

Veronica just stood there, a hand cradling her slightly sore jaw and she waited for a few more minutes. Honestly, she was just humouring the shorter girl. It was like that situation that you know is going to make a fool out of you but you aren’t exactly sure so you want to watch until the end to see if you were right.

“Dinosaurs, wars and death,” Duke stated with no context even furthering Veronica’s confusion, her mouth silently repeating what she had just heard as her brow rose in befuddlement as she wondered how Duke even got those things in a bathroom of all places. Was she high? She then turned towards Veronica, a smirk on her face as she placed a hand on her hip. “Make it a love song while you’re at it.”

Veronica’s mouth opened and closed as if trying to find the words to say but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t find any so she just settled with raising her brow wondering to herself on why she was actually thinking of doing it. What was happening was so bizarre that Veronica couldn’t help but agree to join in, besides it wasn’t like she had anything else to do.

All she had to do was sing about dinosaurs, wars and death in a bathroom. These kinds of situations don’t really happen often so why not humour the girl?

The problem was how to connect those three things into a love song, she scratched her head and ran a hand through her hair a bit confused but she managed to at least formulate a small bundle of lyrics.

“I can start and…” Veronica frowned, leaning against a sink as she rubbed a hand against her jaw. She already had a tune in mind but the lyrics would need some polishing. Who started wars? People, people is the plural version of a person, a person is someone like her. Who finished wars? People once again. “I can start and finish wars…” before she shook her head, it sounded wrong so she scratched that off.

Since Veronica was too busy in her thoughts, she didn’t notice Duke pull out her phone and began to record what was happening with her phone before slipping it into her green blazer, leaving the camera to peek out discreetly.

Why was war a thing in the first place? Ideas, opinions. If an idea or opinion was used to lead a group with one spouting the ideals as the figurehead so basically some kind of priest or something. A priest was from a religion. Religion = god or at least some kind of deity.

So she had the ‘war’ part down, what about the ‘dinosaurs’ and ‘death?’

Another word for death is die, so how did the dinosaurs die? She bit the inside of her cheek as her mind began to think. Some people said that god was the one that killed the dinosaurs but others say that an asteroid has done so.

A god could affect the word right? They were the one that controlled the world to an extent or at least what was going to happen.

Veronica nodded, she already had the three main subjects down now she had to deal with how to turn it into a love song because those three are rather twisted and don’t exactly make sense in any romantic field.

“Hey, Ron!” Veronica blinked back to reality and realized that Duke had called for her. Duke was leaning against the stall across from her, arms crossed as her eyes stared at the book in her hands. “Make the song take place in the perspective of a yandere.”

Veronica furrowed her brow, yandere? She never heard of that term before.

“Yandere?” she asked.

Duke looked up with a raised brow and gave an amused smile, it was the kind of smile one would give a kid who asked such a simple question that can be easily answered. “Basically a term someone calls a person who kills anyone who dares harm or gets in the way of their love interest.” Duke flipped a page. “Make the song in the eyes of the yandere.” with that, she looked down and continued to read.

Veronica’s eyes widened, looking like she just had a revelation and as if that explanation was all she needed, the lyrics instantly clicked into place. She began to mutter as she brought out her notepad and started to write down the words that came into her mind, when she finished she had a satisfied grin in her face as she re-read what she had written down.

It has been a while since she had done any kind of songwriting, it was something her therapist had once told her to do to release her stress other than just detailing her life in a journal but after the second month of doing nothing but relieving dark times, she gave up and focused on fighting instead.

Veronica smiled, it was surprisingly satisfying to make a short bundle of lyrics. Why hadn’t she done this sooner? She shrugged, well at least she was doing it now.

“You done? I see you finished writing at that notepad of yours.” Duke said and Veronica looked up to see the green Heather snap the book close and place it under her arm.

“Yep!” Veronica nodded, it was unusual of her to be this peppy but she was proud of what she wrote. 

Duke tilted her head, “What’s the name?”

The taller girl blinked, realizing that she hadn’t even thought of a name yet. She looked down at the piece of paper and snapped her fingers when a title came into mind, a smile on her face.

**_“Our love is god.”_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are pics on how Veronica look's like, just some art that I've done. The first one was a bit of a prototype but i tried, i don't usually draw girls so i'm sorry if it sucks.
> 
> https://scontent.fdoh2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-0/p480x480/115929411_937601183388273_8250697094911696582_n.png?_nc_cat=101&_nc_sid=b96e70&_nc_ohc=7tYuK3FMerIAX_uF8OM&_nc_ht=scontent.fdoh2-2.fna&oh=b0587105ae994a53f48da9132c8e303b&oe=5F40DCAB
> 
> The other one
> 
> https://scontent.fdoh2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-0/p480x480/108998493_904365093400427_3359654149781215604_n.png?_nc_cat=107&_nc_sid=b96e70&_nc_ohc=6fm-jbICUuMAX94klQg&_nc_ht=scontent.fdoh2-2.fna&oh=ba215086abb9a022d568d5130561873b&oe=5F409C20


	11. The Cast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica has no idea what she had just agreed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally using that Polyamorous Heathers tag!

**_(CHAPTER 11- Casting)_ **

_ “Our love is god.” They hear Ron say. _

_ Someone’s laughter was heard through the phone and the phone shook along with her. _

_ “Are you serious?” Duke said, showcasing that the person that laughed was her, the amusement clear in her voice. _

_ “Hey! You said love song, it sounded like a love song. Don’t judge me!” Ron barked, the phone shifted slightly showcasing that Ron’s face was dusted a bit pink with a pout on her face before it slipped back into the pocket. _

_ “I knew that you have bad taste in names but is that what you’re actually calling it?” _

_ Ron was heard to be huffing in annoyance, “Yeah yeah, laugh it up you green gremlin.” _

McNamara pressed their thumb on the screen, pausing the video as she snorted. A giggle escaping her as she snuggled closer to said ‘Green gremlin.’ 

“I’ll keep that nickname in mind,” She said, her lips pulling into a grin as nuzzled into Duke’s shoulder.

Duke just rolled her eyes, pushing her head upward so McNamara could press her face closer to her neck but a blush was seen on her face clearly embarrassed at having one of her nicknames being known. Chandler was just smiling, amused from Duke’s other side but fondness was obvious in her eyes as she fiddled with Duke’s hair with one hand.

“I don’t get why we can’t just skip to the part where Ron began to sing…” Duke grumbled beneath her breath, her face burning even brighter when Chandler nibbled on her earlobe.

“Sorry babe but you got to deal with it.” Chandler’s lips quirked upward as she unpaused the video. “You’re the one that started the video, you should’ve just skipped it when you had the phone.”

Duke just continued her sulking.

_ “Didn’t i tell you to stop calling me that?” _

_ “Pfft- when? Besides, I'm your friend. I have the right to call you creative nicknames with no bad intentions in mind.” _

_ “And when was this? I never said that we were friends, Black.” _

_ Ron snorted, “When I had to help you out last week, acquaintances don’t go meet the someone’s parents they barely know for no reason” _

_ “Didn’t you agree because i said that I’d owe you a favour?” _

_ Ron sputtered before shrugging, “Well~ i do know you so it doesn’t count.” _

_ “Yeah yeah,” The phone shuffled a bit as Duke waved away the subject. “Now sing.” _

_ “Relax your jazz, gimme a sec.” they saw Ron fiddle with the notepad, probably a bit anxious or shy. _

_ “Why? Having performance issues?” _

McNamara rolled her eyes, already used to Duke’s crude and sexual humour. Chandler was the one that snorted this time, her free hand covering the growing affectionate smile on her face.

_ A breath escaped Ron as she chuckled, “Just… doing this in front of someone isn’t something I'm used to.” _

_ “Don’t you sing to me before?” The confusion was obvious in Duke’s voice. _

_ “A stall was between us and it wasn’t like I was seeing your judging stare with every lyric I sang,” Ron muttered, the fiddling with the notepad still there. _

_ A beat of silence before Duke answered, “Do you want me to be in the stall?” _

McNamara ‘awww’ed’ at the considerate side that Duke doesn't usually show to anyone but them and Chandler gave a teasing smile, nudging Duke with her shoulder.

“Going soft for your boy toy, Heather?” Chandler asked but before Duke could retort, she could see a glimmer of jealousy in those steel-blue eyes and she sighed before kissing Chandler in the head, the affection won over the jealousy.

“Just… trying to be nice, y’know…” She grumbled below her breath. “Ron’s been spouting about friendship and all that stuff whenever we talked.”

_ “Thanks, Duke.” _

_ The video fast-forwarded a few more seconds and the next scene showed that the phone was out the pocket and discreetly peeking out the stall showing a pacing Ron in all of her denim jacket, ripped jeans, boot and scarf-wearing glory. _

_ “You done walking around?” Duke asked. _

_ “Yeah! I got it, just…” Ron trailed off before continuing. “Just getting into character.” _

Character? Chandler and McNamara glanced at each other, brows raised as they silently asked each other what that meant, luckily the Duke in the video asked the question they both were asking.

_ “Character? What do you mean?” _

_ Ron chuckled and she turned to stare at herself in the mirror, her hands gripping the sink. “Just a character in a book,” she said. _

_ She coughed into her hand, hands shaking imaginary water onto the ground as she hopped from feet to feet. She then brought her hand to her throat massaging it before she lowly spoke some testing words, what that flowed out of her lips wasn’t as rough as her usual voice but much more lighter in a sense. _

_ It came out slow, her voice fluctuating at first but it seemed at the end it seemed to smoothen out, her voice growing a bit stronger as she tapped once against the sink probably a tune to the song.  _ _ “We can start and finish wars…”  _

_ A pause before Ron began once more, her body turning to the stall door as she gulped, a slightly awkward look on her face before it turned a bit determined as she knocked on the sink once more. _

So they were right, it was a tune.

_ “We’re what killed the dinosaurs.”  _ _ They could see that awkward smile turn into a comfortable and confident grin, clearly beginning to enjoy what she was singing. Ron stepped closer, fists clenching on her side. _

_ “We’re the asteroids that’s overdueee~''  _ _ One of Ron’s feet tapped onto some kind of silent beat before beaming a smile, it would’ve been adorable if it weren’t for the context of what she just sang. _

McNamara turned to Duke, her brows furrowing as she mouthed the words  _ ‘What kind of love song is this?’  _

Duke just shrugged.

_ “The dinosaurs will turn to dust!”  _ _ Ron’s voice was much stronger now, her finger’s snapping to a beat instead of knocking against something like before. _

McNamara nodded her head to it since it was surprisingly nice, even with the rather odd lyrics.

Chandler just watched, interested.

_ “They’ll  _ **_die_ ** _ because _ **_we_ ** _ say they must!”  _ _ Ron’s right hand pointed at the stall, the fingers forming something similar to a gun before it abruptly shot up, the grin on Ron’s face turning into… something. _

**_“Pew!”_ **

McNamara’s eyes shot open in surprise while one of Chandler’s brow rose, equally surprised wondering just where Ron got her inspiration from because this doesn’t sound like any song they had heard but it sure sounded interesting.

_ The next that came out of Ron’s lips was a hum to some kind of tune, a smile on her lips as she paced the bathroom. She then stopped by the stall once more, the next words surprising them. _

_ “I worship you…”  _ _ Ron’s head tilted to the side, an embarrassed look on her face as she ran a hand through her hair. Her voice softer now, as if saying something would break something so fragile. _

Duke turned red, remembering just how reverently Ron had sung this part to her this morning, the phone didn't give her actual voice justice. Something both Chandler and McNamara caught with how they shared a look before looking back at the screen.

_ “I’d trade my life for yours.” _ _ her hands began to fiddle with each other and she gave a lopsided smile as she flourished her hand towards the stall as if giving something. The voice slowly going stronger, probably a buildup to the next lyrics. _

_ “We’ll make them  _ **_disappear.”_ ** _ The hand curled into a fist as Ron’s once soft smile turned back into _ **_that_ ** _ grin. _

More raised brows and a bunch of concerned looks before focusing back on the screen. Ron must’ve been a theatre kid because that was some good acting, the kind of acting that one would need to practice for.

_ Ron flourished her hands to both places beside her, the smile still in place.  _ _ “We’ll plant our garden hereeee~!” _ _ she then stepped closer, now near the stall that smile stretching her face and the Heathers couldn’t help but feel a chill go down their spines. _

**_“Our love is god.”_ **

The vid abruptly cut off just as the phone turned off causing the trio of Heathers to blink in confusion before an empty battery that beeped red came on leaving them to stare at the phone.

“That’s some timing…” McNamara muttered and the rest of the Heathers nodded in agreement but Chandler seemed to be contemplating something, with how she furrowed her brow slightly and the slight narrow in her eyes.

“So… what’d you think, Heather?” Duke asked as McNamara stood up from the bed to charge the phone. 

Chandler hummed before smirking, eyes on the ceiling as she nodded her approval. 

“Cast her.” Was all she said and Duke nodded in understanding, much to the confusion of one Heather McNamara who came back after charging the phone as she climbed back into the sheets.

“Cast who?” McNamara questioned as she got comfy, she wasn’t exactly the theater or music type like her two girlfriends, she was more of a physical type of gal so she tends to get confused whenever they talked about it.

She tried but some terms tend to slip past her but she’s trying!

“You know the musical/play that Mr Chandler was sponsoring? The one that we’ll have to do by the end of the school before prom?” Duke asked and McNamara nodded, she had heard of it from the rest of the cheerleaders, something about doing auditions and extra grades. She didn’t really care since she was rather busy with her own classes and cheerleading to actually have time for that stuff.

“Heather over her is playing one of the lead roles that include a faux sex scene between her and a guy,” Chandler cut in, her face leaning on her palm as she laid on her side to look at McNamara. “Most of the school knows of this and I do not like the fact that any guy who audition could even get that intimate and Heather agreed. So Ron was chosen and the singing wasn’t that bad… for one that was singing in a bathroom of all places.”

McNamara smiled, "Well I liked the singing, who would've thought that under all that gruff and rough was a much smoother voice?”

“I did,” Duke stated, a smug smile on her face as she raised a hand.

Chandler just rolled her eyes, “Shut up Heather, you don’t count.”

Duke pouted and her hand went down, crossing her arms as if she was a petulant child. The adorable action earned her a kiss on both of her cheeks causing her cooling cheeks to turn aflame as she attempted to hide in the sheets.

McNamara tilted her head, smooshing her cheek on Duke’s hair with a wondering look on her face. “Do you think Ron will make a full version? Because the lyrics sound _ really _ interesting.”

Duke shrugged, “I think so? Ron was very excited after that, saying stuff about how it's been such a long time since she last made a song and that she’ll finish it.”

“What’s the musical about anyway?” McNamara asked, she knew that there was a musical but she had no idea what it was about.

Chandler’s brow rose and her smirk turned into an amused smile. “You know that movie from the 1980s? The one that we kept on watching and the one that inspired who we are now? Father found out, renamed it and revised it a bit, making it suit the school.”

_ “That  _ Movie?” McNamara giddily said, a grin growing on her face. “Hunters?”

Duke rolled her eyes, already seeing the dramatic look on Chandler’s face. What a drama queen, she thought fondly. The red-clad girl knew that McNamara loved that movie, she was the one that recommended the movie after all.

“ _Heathers.”_ Chandler fixed, her smile pulling into a grin.

McNamara blinked, a bit confused. “Wait… so like all three of us? I can see that but then who’s Vincent?”

_ “Veronica _ is being played by our resident book nerd, Heather.” Chandler pecked Duke on the cheek. “She was so excited, since Vincent was her favourite character and to know that she was playing the female version was something like a dream come true.”

Duke nodded, not even bothering to hide what she felt.

“Then who’s Jacklyn?”

Chandler smiled “It’s _ Jason _ and who else but Ron Black? Why do you think I agreed for her to audition? No boy is going near Duke. Not on my watch.”

McNamara tilted her head when she realized something, “Does Ron even know what she’s getting into?”

Duke and Chandler glanced at each other, what they said caused the yellow Heather to giggle. “Nope.”

________________________________________________

Veronica laid on her bed just polishing up the lyrics of the song she just wrote this morning when she suddenly felt a chill go down her spine. She looked around, brows furrowing, the window wasn’t open and she was under her sheets so why should she be chilly?

After some time of observing her room, the girl begrudgingly continuing her writing but it didn’t stop her from feeling a wave of dread that passed her.

Her eyes narrowed and she frowned as she placed down her pencil.

Something… felt off.

She shrugged, not exactly her problem, must’ve been the wind or something.

The next day when she walked past the school board, she realized that it wasn’t just the wind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, a drawing between seventeen Veronica and nineteen Veronica.
> 
> https://scontent.fdoh2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/s2048x2048/108953839_297763791465104_5872777757131076162_n.png?_nc_cat=105&_nc_sid=b96e70&_nc_ohc=Tl5pa9Z-zhsAX_rrkLF&_nc_ht=scontent.fdoh2-2.fna&oh=d521571848afb62d75308559eeaf7afb&oe=5F3F9C22


	12. 0 to 100

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica relieves things and regrets things.
> 
> She's sad.

**_(CHAPTER 12- Acting)_ **

Veronica barreled into the cafeteria, eyes wide as she searched for her friend group and the moment she caught sight of them, she slammed a flier that she gripped into the table causing the both of them to jump and turn towards her eyebrows raised and concern evident.

“Did-” she gulped in fresh air and slipped into her seat. “Did you two know of this?” She pointed at her name that was signed under the ‘actors’ section, her eyes wide and frantic.

Martha gasped, a grin on her face. “You're going to audition? Why didn’t you say so? I was going to audition for Martin’s role, it would’ve been nice if I'd know that you were joining me.”

Veronica threw her hands into the air, an exasperated look on her face. “That’s the thing, i didn’t even _want_ to audition, so why is my name there?”

She glanced at Jason, who was sipping on a slushie and he rose a brow before shrugging. “I’m going as Jason’s Dad,” he said as he grinned. “It’s like I'm mocking my actual dad with how similar they are so I've chosen to join in.”

Veronica blinked, Jason’s Dad?

“What? What’s the musical about?” She said, confused. She was originally asking because she thought that her friends were playing a prank on her, that it was just a joke because they knew that she tends to get worried under people watching her.

Jason smiled, “The school revised the cult classic Hunters into a musical that fits our school, making it genderbent and all that.” He leaned towards the paper and his brow rose as he let out a low whistle. “Ah, going as Jacklyn’s male counterpart I see.”

Veronica waved her hands, trying to get into the topic. “No no no, that’s not what i meant. _Who_ is Jacklyn?”

Both Jason and Martha turned to each other before looking at a confused Veronica.

"She's…" Jason hummed and rubbed his chin. "I guess you can call the antagonist? She's this girl who likes slushies (like me!) Who murders two cheerleaders and Hunter Red. At the end of the movie she dies by suicide with a bomb at the front of the school after a failed school bombing."

Martha nodded, "Alot of people are clambering to get the role of Jacklyn's male counterpart, I think it's because of one of the fake sex scenes along with the kissing that would no doubt come up in the musical."

Veronica's eyes narrowed as a sense of deja vu struck her, something about that story was oddly… _familiar._

"And… _what_ is the name of Jacklyn's counterpart?" Veronica asked suspiciously, her brows furrowing as her mind began to jump into some very far fetched territory, the kind of territory she does not want to deal with.

"Jason!" Jason cheerily replied, a grin on his face. A huge contrast to the feeling of doom that wafted over Veronica, her once positive optimism now being taken by the wind with every word Jason said. "They decided to name Jacklyn's male counterpart, Jason." He swished his drink side to side. "It was one of the reasons why I wanted to get his role especially considering how similar we are, that is until I saw _who_ is playing Vincent’s female version and decided otherwise."

“Vincent?” Veronica asked, a hand rubbing her brow trying to make everything make sense especially after what she had just heard had begun to make her thought spiral downward.

This time, it was Martha who had spoken up. “Veronica!” said Veronica looked up, confused, that is until Martha waved her way. “No, not you. It's what they’re calling Vincent’s female version, it’s Veronica.” Martha swayed from side to side, a smile on her face. “I was wondering if you were going to go as Veronica but you don't…” the smile turned a bit awkward. “You don’t exactly look like her so it was understandable that you went as Jason, you have the glare and everything, all you just need is the trenchcoat like our Jason.”

Jason just nodded, holding the lapels of his own trench coat. “You want to borrow mine for your audition? Our body types are similar so I’m sure it’ll fit.” 

Veronica slumped into the table, her hand rubbing her brow even more. She didn’t want to ask about Vincent's role, she didn’t want to, but she had no choice but too especially since information is something that she needed especially considering what her mind was going at.

“What’s…” She shook her head, wondering if she was actually going to do this. “What’s Vincent’s story?” She begrudgingly asked, a grimace in her face. Just saying Vincent’s name nearly made her hurl, what is going on? There was no play in her timeline and there was nothing about Duke having a girlfriend either, what was going on?!

“Vincent’s the main character,” Martha started, a smile on her face. Jason nodding beside her, just casually sipping on his drink. “He’s the one that helped the Hunter’s skip class after Hunter G. had a hangover in the bathrooms, this interested the other two Hunter’s and they made him part of the group.”

Veronica’s eyes narrowed and she gave up trying to make everything make sense, the story… it sounded so dang similar but she was sure that it was just a coincidence… right?

Jason continued, “Yeah, then a fight happens between Jacklyn and these two cheerleaders during... recess?” he tilted his head confused towards Martha and with a nod of approval continued. “Causing Vincent to fall for her because strong females are hot.” He sipped his drink ignoring the stares he got from both Veronica and Martha. “Vincent meets Jacklyn in a 7/11 after school because he had to go get Hunter R. some chips causing Vincent to unlock her tragic backstory filled with slushies and a dead dad.”

Veronica inhaled.

Veronica exhaled, already feeling a headache coming the moment she heard of the similarities.

Jason and Martha noticed and Veronica waved at them to continue, already knowing that everything would click into place and she’d deal with it now than later. Her hands shook under her crossed arms and her head hurt, her mind bringing up the memories with every word they said.

“Well there was this party at Rae’s place (One of the cheerleaders Jacklyn fought) and Hunter R. made Vincent forge a fake invite to give to Martin.” another sip of his drink. “Martin comes and Vincent is absolutely drunk and high since this was both of their first parties in high school, Martin gets humiliated because of a pinata made after him. Vincent is pissed and goes off at Hunter R. and Hunter R. didn’t like that and swung him around a few times and since Vincent is drunk....” Jason faux hurled and Veronica got the message, the pain in her head already getting bigger the moment she got her confirmation. Jason continued his spiel but she wasn’t listening, her mind too busy with trying to make everything make sense.

The similarities are too much, everything was starting to click onto place and that was something she _did_ ** _not_** want.

It just didn’t make sense! You’re telling her that this place has a movie where everything that happened in her past senior year had happened with the only difference being the fact that they were the opposite _sex?_

Her hands shook even more and she had to stop herself from closing her eyes, knowing that if she had done so she would see the blood that stained them, the flashes of blue lips and circular wounds that leaked blood. She instead settled with gripping her biceps, jaws and body tensing as she forced herself into her arms making it look like she was sleeping but in reality she was more awake than ever.

Fuck, did that mean that she was going to see it happen all over again? 

Martha’s suicide attempt?

Chandler’s death?

(Unknown to Veronica, her shaking was obvious and Jason and Martha stopped her explanation to see what was wrong but no matter what they said, she didn't answer.)

The Ram and Kurt’s shooting?

McNamara’s attempt at drug overdose?

(McNamara was the first one to notice from Heather's table that something was wrong, so she tapped Duke at the shoulder and pointed at the tense girl and that in turn caught Chandler's attention causing the three of them to see what was wrong.)

_The bombing?_

**_Fuck!_ **

She ran a hand through her bangs, her fingers tangling in a short wave of brown and she tugged at it. When she looked at her hand, she realized that she was holding strands of brown locks. She gulped and clenched her fist, her nails digging into her palm. The sharp pain usually distracting her but not now, it didn't seem for work now.

**_She was supposed to be over this!_ **

She stood up, her hands pushing her up as it shook. She stumbled back, her breath haggard and she roughly swallowed the saliva that built up in the back of her throat. It burnt, her eyes and her mouth and her stomach felt like lead, especially when she realized that her eyes were pointed at the Heathers table.

Duke sat there, _something_ in her eyes. She was halfway out the seat, probably watching her. Probably worried, probably scared.

Probably _pitying_ her.

Chandler and McNamara looked the same albeit in a lower scale, that look in their eyes not even trying to be subtle. It was the look Veronica always hated, she hated it so much.

A burst of anger came forth and Veronica got out of the table and out of the cafeteria. Shaking, her body tense as she swerved past the students in the hallways which wasn't that hard considering that the moment they saw the displeased look on her face they immediately moved away.

She couldn't go to the bathroom, Duke would find her there. She couldn't go to the library, Martha knew. She couldn't stay by the side of the school, Jason knows that she smokes there or at least knows that she tries to go there.

Fuck… she gritted her teeth, fumbling with the inside of her jacket pocket to bring out a familiar pair of gloves that she hadn't used in a while. Where was a fight when you needed it? She hadn't fought in a week with how busy she was but now? She had enough time to beat someone to death and leave.

She needed a distraction, something to take her mind off things. Whether it's a girl, or a drink or the feeling of her battering someone to the floor it didn't matter which because she was going to get at least one of them.

She got out of school and ran, the shaking of her hands may have lessened since they had something to focus on but that didn't stop just how utterly tense she was.

What kind of sick joke is this world? You make her go back to this place, make her relieve all of this bullshit and just when she thought that things were getting better, that maybe she could be alright and make her time better this time around, the world had decided to say _'Haha! Nope! You don't_ ** _deserve_ **_a happy ending. Let's remind you by making you watch a_ **_whole musical_ ** _about why!'_

_As if she didn't know that already!_

_As if she didn't know that she was a shit person, that she didn't deserve to even_ **_be_ ** _here._

_As if she didn't know-_

Veronica's feet stopped and she looked up when she realized just where she went. She looked around, wondering just why she was here until a memory struck her and she laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh it was a laugh someone gave of pure disbelief, the kind of laugh you'd give when you don't see something funny but see something that's so absurd you just had to laugh.

She was standing in the woods, near the cemetery, by a tree.

_(She could almost relive what she had done. The feeling of the thick rope, her making her way to this certain place. The careful climbing of the tree, the making of the noose…)_

The tree that she once hanged herself in.

Another laugh escaped her as she leaned her forehead against the trunk, eyes closed as she felt the past she oh so desperately tried to run from beginning to trap her in. The pressure of all she had done, the blood, the bleeding holes, the bomb. It will all be shown in a _musical_ of all things!

The world sure wants to rub salt in the wound, don't they?

As if reminding her that no matter what she did, her past would haunt her.

Such cruel bastards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You thought that the trauma in the summary was there for shits and giggles? Hahahaha nope!
> 
> Also yes, Veronica had actually once attempted suicide! In the past timeline soon after the bombing when everything had caught up to her, she ran and ran until she stumbled onto that peculiar tree. She just so happens to find a rope while she's at it.
> 
> However, McNamara and Martha found her and she wasn't able to continue. Since she couldn't go to the self-harm route, she settles with going to shady places to get injured as some kind of retribution.
> 
> This led to her founding that she was an adrenaline junkie when she was nearly choked out by that druggie in that alleyway and fought back.
> 
> She then got therapy (The shitty kind) and the rest is history.


	13. Chapter 13

**_(CHAPTER 13- A pity)_ **

  
  


After the realization that she was very fucked up. Veronica dragged her ass out of the graveyard and climbed into her room like a shady burglar. Her blood leaking down her hands as she shuffled through her things to find her med kit, hands shaking as she brought out some alcohol and gauze,

She didn’t want to go back to school, if she did she knew that she’d freak out and make a scene and in turn draw attention to herself and that was something she did not want.

Her freak outs are bad, very bad. Why else would she want to not deal with them?

Her phone had been popping up with notifications, she had to stop herself from throwing it out the window with how high her emotions were. She hadn’t been able to mug in a while and she didn’t want to go to her savings just because she had to be stupid and throw her phone like a dumbass.

This was pathetic.

She pressed an ice bag against her leaking knuckles, an annoyed and disgruntled look on her face as her skin stung at the cold. She was nineteen, nearly twenty she couldn’t afford to act like the world is ending because of some shitty play for school. 

She clicked her tongue as she bandaged her hand, the numbness settling in allowing he rto do so peacefully.

It has been two years, two _whole_ years. 

She was supposed to be over this! She couldn’t afford to be like this. She’s supposed to keep herself together, not go crying and running out of school like a retard because she was going to watch a reenactment of some show.

A laugh came out of her throat, it sounded depressing because it was filled with so much hope and that disgusted her.

That’s right, it was just a show. It could just be a story that just sounded similar but could be completely different! You never know, not until you watch it yourself. Until you’re _part of it yourself._

Her hands shook but she forced her hands to curl onto fists, the sharp pain finally allowing her to focus as her nails dug into her skin. Her elbows leaned on the sink as she pressed her curled fists onto her forehead and she forced herself to make everything make sense.

Okay… it’s just a school play based on a movie. So what if it sounded similar? So what if it had similar names? It could all just be a coincidence! Yes, just a coincidence. The fact that a movie was based on what her senior year but with reverse sex from before was absurd! She was just going insane, making far fetched theories because of how little sleep she got.

She swallowed her saliva. If she keeps on repeating it, it’s bound to come through right?

But what if it _was?_

_What if it was actually based on her past life?_

_She had to make sure, she needed evidence to either support or disapprove her theory. She needed to make_ **_sure._ **

_How? By being part of the play_ **_itself._ **

But first, she needed a drink. She's been sober for so long and she needed to change that.

________________________

Veronica stumbled into the school, feeling the familiar buzz of alcohol settling in her stomach as she pushed open the cafeteria and looked around for her friends. Her appearance still looked the same, the only difference was the fact that she wasn’t wearing her denim jacket with how it was folded over her arm. It was rather hot, she blamed it with how much she kept on running everywhere.

She slipped into the table across her two friends, her wrapped fingers gripping the cup as she took a large sip of her big gulp that was mixed with a certain remedy. 

The bitter taste of the alcohol and the sweetness soda blended badly and the smell absoloutely sucked but the warmth and comfort it gave her was enough for her to shoulder on and sip even more.

Jason seemed to have tensed at the sight of her bandaged hand and she glanced at it, noticing that some of the blood was seeping through, she'll have to replace them when school finishes.

Martha looked worried, with her furrowed brow and frown that laid on her face. Martha didn't know of her rather peculiar _hobbies_ , once again understandable considering the fact that she liked to separate her school life from her regular one and she was doing a good job too. She looked like she wanted to ask about the wrapped hands but Jason shook his head and the girl begrudgingly conceded.

Veronica wasn't drunk, just a bit tipsy considering that this was the third big gulp mixture but she knew how to handle her drinks. 

Just don’t do anything your mind recommended you’d do and do what you were supposed to do. See? Easy. Well, not at first but you get a hang of it.

“Erm… Veronica?” Martha started, her frown deepened as she stared with concern in her eyes, flicking towards her hands then to her face. “Why did you just run away like that? Did we say something wrong?” Jason nodded next to Martha, also silently asking if he had done anything wrong and Veronica shook her head much to their relief.

“Nah.” Veronica took a sip of her drink, the lie slipping out of her lips as if it was her first language. “Just forgot something at home and needed to grab it.”

Jason’s brows rose, his own eyes narrowing when he caught a whiff of Veronica’s drink. “What kind of thing did you have to get that took like three whole classes?”

“My composure,” Veronica answered, a grin forced onto her face knowing that it’d slip into a real one overtime. “Do you know how hard it was to find it? I had to take a nap and everything just to finally catch sight of it.” she waved her hand. “Let’s not even say anything about my sanity.”

Jason snorted onto his drink and shook his head while Martha’s worry seemed to sky rocket. 

Veronica just smiled and shook her head while winking towards the other girl, “Just kidding~” Her lips tugged into what she hoped was a comfortable grin. “Relax Martha, i’m fine. Not everything had to go be part of a bigger picture, I really had to find something but I wasn't able to, so I ran back here.”

Martha seemed a bit worried but it gave way for something else when her eyes flicked into somewhere behind before glancing elsewhere. Jason seemed to have thought the same thing with how his brow raised and the teasing smile that began to grow on his face.

It was obvious that he was trying to change the subject.

He leaned onto his hand, “So~ I have a question, when were you going to tell us that that girlfriend of yours was a _Heather?”_ he whispered, a glint in his eyes as he wiggled his eyebrows like some weirdo.

Martha looked like she got a heart attack with how wide her eyes are, her mouth mouthing the word of something along the lines of _‘I forgot about that.’_

Veronica’s brow raised and she took a sip onto her drink, a bit too busy with her liquid to fully understand what Jason had just said. “Jason, I already told you that me and Duke are just-” she choked on her drink and her eyes widened when her mind finally registered what Jason had just said. She coughed into her arm, the drink going down the wrong pipe at what she had just heard. “Wha- What?” she asked, voice raspy as she stared at the guy.

“Who said anything about _Duke?”_ He stated, a full blown grin on his face.

He got an elbow to the side causing him to hack up in laughter, wheezing like a dying old man as Marha continued to watch in a bit of horror.

Veronica just shook her head, too buzzed to even be mad, they were just joking after all and it’s not like it’ll be true besides Duke was seventeen, she wasn’t interested in dating a minor.

“Wipe that look off your face, Dean. It’s nothing like that,” she stated, an amused smirk on her face as she crossed her arms on the table.

“You didn’t answer~” he wheezed, trying to catch his breath as he glanced at her.

“I plead the fifth,” was all Veronica said, a blank look on her face as she stared him down.

They both burst out laughing after a beat of silence with Martha just watching, horror fading away to amusement and fondness in her eyes.

“Are you alright though?” Jason whispered beneath his breath after they settled down, his face serious as he glanced at her.

Veronica just nodded, a faux smile growing on her face as she answered.

“I will be.”

With how focused she was on her group, she wasn’t able to notice the narrowed eyes of a certain trio a few tables away. The trio who seemed rather focused on the blue wearing girl, even taking their phones out to zoom in and capture something.

The students in the cafeteria wondered what that girl had done to get such intensity by the Queen Three, they all collectively felt sorry for her because the last one who had gotten the same treatment had to skip schools.

They wondered if history will repeat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just an interlude-ish chapter, sorry for not updating much. i had to revise this chapter several times because i wasn't satisfied before i had to settle with this one.


End file.
